Alex Rider and Yet Another Mission
by OddlySane
Summary: MI6 never got the hint of him never wanting another mission, nor why he hates them. Sent off to spy on the oddest bunch of assassins with K-Unit trailing along, can this end with happiness or will it all spell disaster for Alex?
1. Not another one

Disclaimer: I do not and will not ever own Alex Rider. Oh how sad life is :(

* * *

'You want me to do _what_?' Alex yelled.

'Now, Alex, it's not that bad,' Mrs. Jones reasoned, sucking yet another mint.

They were in the very last place Alex wanted to be in. The Royal and General bank. He was sitting in front of Mr. Blunt's table, just about to be sent on yet another mission against his will. But this one was worse than the others, he was practically being sent to his death. All the other missions he had a slight,_ very _slight, hope of surviving, but this time he was a dead man walking into this.

'I BLOODY REFUSE TO BE SENT ON ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR BLOODY MISSIONS!' He yelled once more, butting into Mrs. Jones little reasoning speech.

'Language,' frowned Mr. Blunt, leaning back slightly in his chair. Alex just sent him a death glare which would've sent any sane man running in the other direction. But Mr. Blunt wasn't sane, which sane man would send their "best agent" to their death?

'I. Am. Not. Going.' He growled back, 'to spy on a group of _assassins, _of all people! They're bloody _trained _to kill me! Honestly!' He continued.

'We won't be sending you in alone this time Alex,' Mrs. Jones replied, completely unfazed by his small outburst. It did happen every time they ask him for help after all.

'What difference will that make? The last time you sent me in with some other spies they all died! This time I'll be the one six feet under!' He yelled back.

'Alex, do you honestly believe we would send you into a mission if there was little chance of you coming back?' Mrs. Jones stated.

'YOU SENT ME INTO BLOODY SPACE WHITHOUT ANY SORT OF TRAINING!' He yelled, standing up. He had enough. Mrs. Jones didn't reply to his comeback, after all, it was true.

'Alex,' Mr. Blunt called as Alex went to the door, 'If you leave this room, you know we'll have no choice but to deport your housekeeper, her visa is going to run out soon, isn't it? And we'll have to send you somewhere to live then, I've heard of a good boarding school in London you might like. Or not.'

Alex froze, his eyes flashing in anger, but not turning around to face Blunt, 'you're black mailing me,' he stated plainly, not moving from his pose.

'Why yes, Alex, I believe I am.'

He sighed, turning round and sat back down in his seat, knowing only knowing too well he was making a deal with the Devil. He smiled at his joke inwardly; the only thing protecting the country was the Devil. It did make sense though, in a somewhat morbid way.

'How will I be able to spy on them anyways? '

'I'm sure you'll be able to socialise with your own age group easily enough,'

This made Alex freeze (once more) snapping his head up to make eye contact with Mr. Blunt (at last), to see if he was serious or if he was, in fact, insane and made his first ever joke. Alex seriously hoped it was the latter. Sadly though, it seemed clear it was the former, as most people smiled when they said a joke, and Blunt wasn't smiling.

Then again, this was Blunt, and Alex had a private theory that Blunt wasn't able to small from a childhood incident which involved a razor and matches.

'What? You mean that you're scared of some fourteen year old wannabe's? I thought you were MI6!' Alex laughed shakily, holding onto straws that this was all just a stupid joke.

'Don't underestimate them, after all, why do you think we use you?'

Alex deflated at that comment. He had lost that battle.

'Fine. Who will I be going with?' He asked, knowing there was no way out of this.

'K-Unit, the people I believe you used to train with.' Mrs. Jones informed.

His head jerked up sharply.

'YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!'

Far away from Alex (who was now explaining to a hysteric Jack that he had to go and no, trying to smuggle him to America would _not _help), in a remote town on the edge of London, was fourteen year old boy with a frail looking body. He was standing in the living room doorway, watching his Dad pack again for business.

'Are you leaving again?' He asked in a soft voice, wrapping his arms around his body, covered by a too large grey jumper.

His Dad sighed, 'yes, Adam, I've already told you.'

'You only came back two days ago though,' he replied, not really caring much, or at least, pretending not to.

'You know I have to go for my work (A/N no, he doesn't work for MI6). Now, I'm leaving your brother on charge, and I don't care what you say, he is older than you.' His Dad stated, zipping up his suitcase. Adam's Mum had died in a car crash when he was eight, but never missed her much. She was an alcoholic and would cheat on her husband whenever he was gone for a long period of time.

Last month, when he had to leave again, a week that time, Adam had said that he should be in charge, as he was quite obviously older mentally. His sixteen year old brother, Tobias, was the thickest person Adam had ever met. He was quite sure Tobias was dropped on his head when he was younger, but never asked whether he was or not. After all, who could he ask?

Adam sighed, some weekend this was going to be. He just hoped Tobias wouldn't use his pathetic excuse of a brain and lock him in his room again. Or rather, his girlfriend won't think of it again. It wasn't easy sneaking out all of the time.

'I'll be leaving then,' his Dad stated, making his way to the exit Adam was currently blocking, 'tell Toby not to cook again, will you?' His Dad asked.

The last time Tobias was left to cook he left an odd brown-grey stain on the ceiling of the kitchen. The oddest thing was that he was attempting to cook pasta for his girlfriend.

Adam shuffled out of the way, nearly tripping over his several sizes too large jeans while doing so. He hated wearing right sized clothes at home.

'Bye then,' his said softly as his Dad shut the door behind him. After a couple of minutes he went to double check that his brother was asleep (It was only nine, Adam could never work out how his brother got so tired at times. He hardly does exercise except for boxing, which is only on Saturdays) before grabbing his mobile and dialled his friend's number.

'Hello?' A male's voice crackled,

'Hey,' he greeted, 'My Dad's gone for the weekend, wanna go somewhere good?'

'Hell yeah!' The male's voice replied, 'I'll see you in five?'

'Sure, phone the others, will you? I'm running low on credit again.'

The voice chuckled, 'you _never_ have credit! Yeah, I'll phone them.'

'Thanks, I owe you,'

'You always owe me!'

The line went dead and Adam went off to get ready for the night out.

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I hope you liked! Please R&R!

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	2. Introductions

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Disclaimer: I don't owe Alex Rider, Pokémon or My Chemical Romance, how sad :( I DO own Adam, Damien, Emma, Hannah and Thomas :)

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It was five past nine on a Friday night, and Hannah was doing what she done on all Friday nights, lie on her bed listening to Duke Special waiting for someone from her gang's phone call.

Her silver phone, lying beside her head as well, started playing the Pokémon theme tune, Damien's name appearing as the caller. She answered it immediately, hoping they were going somewhere that night at last.

'Hannah?' His voice questioned, praying to God it wasn't one of her parents.

'Don't worry,' she assured, laughing, 'It's me. My parents still haven't forgiven you, you know.'

'I know,' he replied, relief evident in his voice, 'anyways, you wanna go somewhere tonight?'

'About time you asked,' she huffed, 'it's been ages since we went out on a Friday!'

'Hey!' He replied indignantly, 'It's not my fault! It's Adam's brother!'

'I know,' she replied, sighing as she stood up from her bed and walked over to her mirror, 'I'll see you in five, yeah?'

'Sure,' he replied, before hanging up.

Hannah checked herself in the mirror, making sure her straightened Red hair was okay in the rushed ponytail from earlier, her brown eyes framed with blue mascara. After making sure she needed no more make-up on, she grabbed her yellow jumper on pulled it on, covering her t-shirt with the classic "You rock, you rule" image across the front.

Satisfied with her she looked, she walked out, yelling to her parents she was leaving as she marched out of her two story house, her red and yellow converse making a soft, muffled sound as she walked down the dimly lit, otherwise empty street, the houses on either side with its windows showering the outside world with its' light as she walked onwards to her destination.

* * *

Alex stared out of the window of the five seater black Volvo, trying hard to ignore K-Unit, who were currently sitting beside him, making the job all the more harder for Alex. Eagle and Snake were in the back, alongside with Alex. Fox was in the passenger seat, looking at the map, and Wolf, as hostile as ever, was driving.

They had met up at MI6 headquarters on Saturday morning, leaving quickly once Alex got his usual gadgets from Mr.Smithers (a mobile that pinpointed any other mobile signal and also speed-dial to MI6, a pair of sunglasses which had heat sensors, and bullet-proof jacket, which Alex personally thought was _the_ most helpful thing for this mission.)And K-Unit had went to God knows where for another set of bullet-proof jackets, but they got guns. It took all of Alex's self-control not to pout at that, he never got a gun, even though he knew better than most adults how to use them.

They were going to be living in a flat that was on the same floor as one of the suspects. The cover story was that Alex's parents had died and was sent to his Uncles, played by Eagle and Snake. Wolf was a close friend who lost his house due to not paying his mortgage and had moved in to them, while Fox had just broken up with his girlfriend after a two-year relationship and needed somewhere to stay while he got back on his feet. Wolf and Eagle were going to be substitutes in the local secondary, "The Hemel Hempstead School", while Snake was working in the local garage, alongside one of the suspect's father. Fox was unemployed and was going to stay at home in case any of them needed emergency back-up. (Alex secretly thought it was because they couldn't find a job for him.)

To make the story somewhat believable, Eagle and Snake had been living there for little over a month already, Wolf and Fox appearing in-between said time zone.

Alex sighed as he watched the fields dotted with the occasional animal whiz pass, wishing he was still in bed like any normal teenager, 'But no, of course not,' he thought, 'I, the oh-so-great teenage spy, has to go save the world, let's just ignore the whole fact of his GCSE's. Just like in the books, the oh-so-amazing kid will save the world, once more, from a group mad men who've all, luckily, forgotten how to use their guns to just shoot him stone cold _dead_.'

Alex felt he was owed a moment of self-pity.

No one had spoken since the journey started, which was an hour and a half ago. When they had met up in MI6 there had been quite obvious tension in the air, but now it seemed to have lowered slightly, as no one had the slightest intention of starting up a conversation.

The journey had to be the longest one Alex ever took. Not that he cared much; he got to wallow in self-pity even more then.

* * *

It was Friday night and Emma was heading out, she had gotten Damien's call just a minute ago. Her parents were out for the night and her sisters, aged twelve and fifteen, just ignored her informative yell of going out and that dinner was on the top shelf in the fridge.

She wore a baggy black jumper with "My Chemical Romance" written across the back and skinny black jeans. Her worn out black converse made an odd squeaking noise as she walked down the street to their usual meeting place. Her dyed black hair was held out of her pale face by a black and white spotted hair band.

Her ipod was stuffed inside her jeans' pocket, the headphones hanging out and swinging side-to-side as she walked.

Not bothering to check that no one was watching her, she walked into the abandoned house.

* * *

Alex walked into his new house, looking around to see where everything was.

He entered a small corridor, the first door on the left showed a medium sized living-room, while the first on the right showed a small kitchen.

'Your room is third door on the left,' Eagle offered, noticing that Alex had little idea of where to go.

'Thanks,' replied Alex, picking up his suitcase as he wondered down. He entered a rather small room, barely large enough to fit a bed and wardrobe.

Sighing, he placed his suitcase on his bed and, thankful he wasn't claustrophobic, unzipped it, placing his clothes in the wardrobe. As he stuffed the rest of his stuff (he never bothered with being neat, what was the point after all?) inside it, the doorbell rang. Curious, Alex quickly threw his rather small suitcase inside, along with his clothes (which was already ready to fall on an unsuspecting victim), before seeing who would dare enter the house of Wolf.

Surprised, he saw a rather frail looking boy in a pair of baggy jeans and jumper, around Alex's age as well, standing there, looking slightly nervous. Fox had been the one to answer the door.

'Yeah?' Fox asked, looking down at the boy with a rather confused look on his face. It was obvious that Fox wasn't expecting him either.

'I've heard that a new kid moved in and I wondered if he would look to hang out or something,' the boy asked, his head ducked slightly as he talked, his overgrown hazelnut hair covering his face, it was either a very good act or his mum had put him up to it. Alex believed the latter.

'Hang on, I'll ask him,' Fox offered, before turning round and yelled, 'Alex! Someone at the door for you!'

* * *

Thomas sat quietly in the armchair that had seen better days, waiting for the others to come. He had gotten the call around two minutes ago and, being the closest to their usual hangout, was the first to reach it.

Emma was the second to reach it, greeting him before sitting on the windowsill. She stared out at the silent landscape, waiting for the others to arrive.

Thomas just sat there, hardly moving. He wore second-hand trainers, a grey jacket and light blue, torn jeans. His dyed white hair was messy and flying everywhere, but he paid no notice to that, his mind was on more important things.

His mind was on the new boy who was living on the same floor as Adam, the boy who couldn't win in a fight against a ten year old.

His mind was focused on Alex.

* * *

To my reviewers:

How do you want K-Unit to react to Alex? What about their personalities? Any type you like most? Please tell me and I'll try to make it happen!

THANK-YOU!! To all of my reviewers! **RID3RLVR **the reason why I said it was odd was because that he left an odd brown stain, not because he was cooking, **JUSMINE **you'll just have to wait to see who Adam is ;) Though you might be able to guess soon :P. I REALLY wanted to put K-Unit in it, just for the hell of it really, **IRISH-HAILSY **yeah I kinda ruined it :P, shrugs ah well, thanks for the review, and yeah, Alex has a MASSIVE habit of that in my story. He'll have to get rid of that somehow. **GOLD-IS-POWER, ALEX-RIDER-GIRL, ALEKSANDRYAGREGONOVITCH, CMT1992, GLISSONING RAVEN **THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!! I give you cookies for your support! :P


	3. A little scene with KUnit in it

Disclaimer: I don't own anything form the Alex Rider world.

Pointed out kindly by **JUSMINE, **this is set after Snakehead.

The character Hannah is based on IRISH-HAILSY, who forces me to carry on writing this. Thanks for your support...I think.

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'_I've heard that a new kid moved in and I wondered if he would look to hang out or something,' the boy asked, his head ducked slightly as he talked, his overgrown hazelnut hair covering his face, it was either a very good act or his mum had put him up to it._

'_Hang on, I'll ask him,' Fox offered, before turning round and yelled, 'Alex! Someone at the door for you!' _

Alex walked up, pretending not to have been eavesdropping on them.

'Hey,' Alex greeted, looking down at the hunched form of the kid, pretending not to be interested. 'Um,' the kid started, 'do you want to, like, meet up in town or something? I mean, being the new kid and all…' he trailed off, ducking his head down even more.

'Yeah, okay,' Alex replied, trying to get a glimpse of the teen's face while pretending not to care about him. It wasn't as easy as it sounds.

'Really?' the kid asked, jerking his head up, a look of pure shock plastered on his face from Alex's agreement, 'you don't have to or anything, you know. I mean, if you don't want to, its okay.'

Alex got his peek of his face and recognised it instantly from his mission briefing. He was one of the suspects. Stunned was a very big understatement. In real life he looked like he would come out worst in a battle against a ten year old, for God's sake. What type of assassin is that?

Feigning ignorance of the fact he was talking to one of the best killers in England, no, Europe, he replied, 'nah, its fine. It's not like I know anyone or anything. So, what did you say your name was again?'

The hazel haired boy grinned sheepishly, 'I didn't, it's Adam. Adam Sumners.'

Alex held out his hand, 'I'm Alex Hanning.'

Adam shook Alex's hand timidly, Adam's, pale and fragile, looked even more so in contrast with Alex's tanned, lightly muscled one.

'Monday after school alright?' Adam queried.

'Sure. I'll see you then, you can show me where everything is in this place!' Alex laughed.

Adam laughed back, 'trust me, don't get your hopes up!'

They said their goodbyes and Alex closed the door, off to find Fox to tell him the mission was underway.

When Adam reached his room he locked it, preventing his brother to storm in.

He picked up his phone and quickly speed dialled Thomas.

It was eight o'clock, Sunday night, and they were all in the living room, half empty pizza boxes and coke bottles all around them. Eagle was currently poking Snake in the side, out of boredom more than anything else. Snake was doing his best to ignore them, but the nervous twitch in his eye gave him away.

'So Cub,' Fox began, 'who _was _that guy I killed on that Snakehead mission? You looked pretty upset for it to be no one.'

Everyone perked up at that, including Wolf, who seemed to be the guy that even if the world was suddenly bombed by mutant aliens he would just carry on with normal life, if you get what I'm trying to say.

Alex squirmed at the sudden attention.

'He was my godfather,' he said quietly, not really wanting to go into it.

The tension in the room went up several notches.

'Oh God, I'm sorry Cub. I didn't know,' Fox began, looking extremely awkward, after all, what are you meant to say after you realised you killed someone's godfather?

'It doesn't matter,' Alex said quickly before they jumped to the wrong conclusion, 'he killed my parents anyways.'

If possible, the tension went up even higher.

Eagle laughed, being the only one oblivious to the tension swamping the room, 'You have one screwed up family, you know that, Cub?'

Cub grinned slightly at that, 'yeah, I guess I do!'

Everyone relaxed after that, realising Alex wouldn't start crying and go on about how traumatised he was after seeing his own godfather dead and so on like any normal angsty teenager. Thank God Cub wasn't a normal teenager.

'So how did the ASIS manage to get you to work for them? I heard that you didn't like all this spy work,' Fox carried on, ignoring the answer from the last question, hoping the answer to this wasn't as awkward.

'I fell from space into the sea and they got some people to pick me up. They kept me in Australia by saying there was 'Visa problems' as I was there without one. They got me work for them by telling me I would be alongside my godfather.' Alex explained, knowing it sounded crazy and they probably wouldn't believe it. He wouldn't if some one said it to him.

Eagle cracked up laughing again, making Alex think he was one of those people who got hyper after drinking coke.

Snake was smiling and shaking his head, 'only you, Cub, could say something like that and I could actually believe it.'

Wolf, on the hand, looked worried,

'Why the hell were you sent into space?!' he asked, half-yelling, staring at Alex as though he just grew two heads.

'Long story.' Alex muttered, not really wanting to talk about it.

'Awww,' Eagle whined, giving Alex the puppy dog look, 'Please, Cub?'

'No.'

'Pleeease?'

'No.'

'C'mon!'

Alex sighed, Fox smirking and butted into their debate, 'Cub, he can do this all night, you know? You might as well tell us.'

Alex glared at him, but gave in anyways. Before starting he gave a hesitant glance at Wolf, who had for the pass day been ignoring him as best as he could and, it seemed, never wanted to be alone in a room with him.

Seeing that Wolf actually looked slightly interested persuaded him into telling them about that mission. Alex just hoped they wouldn't ask about his others.

He told everything. He told them about how he switched the numbers on the hospital doors and took out four of the terrorists. How he was kidnapped by Force Three and nearly had a finger chopped off before admitting he wasn't the boy they wanted. How he was nearly killed when the building he was locked in was torched. How Paul's (the boy he saved by swapping the numbers) father, Drevin, invited him to his home, and how Drevin was currently building the first ever space hotel. How CIA informed him that Drevin was actually considered to be one of the biggest criminal's in the world. How Drevin told him, after being caught spying, that building 'Ark Angel' was sucking billions of dollars out of his account, and to solve his problems he was going to blow it up. How Drevin died. How he was the only person to fit in the capsule that was planned to be shot up into space, and when he got there Kasper turned out to be there already.

Alex finished his story, having their fullest attention, with his fight in space before killing Kasper and going back home in the capsule after placing the bomb in the toilet, Ark Angel exploding as he left.

They were all silent after Alex's story, making him nervous and fidgety.

'Well,' Eagle said at last, breaking the silence, 'I know who I want to tell me bedtime stories now! He's way better than you, Wolf!'

Wolf growled at him, making Eagle look at him innocently.

'What? What did I say?'

Everyone laughed. Except for Wolf, who through a pillow at Eagle.

* * *

ALL MY REVIEWERS SHALL GET COOKIES!! Thank-you for your support!

**JUSMINE **Thank-you for all the ideas! And for pointing out that it would be better set after Snakehead! I'm going to do an older brother scene with Fox and Cub. Thanks for pointing it out! I'm going to make it awkward between Alex and Wolf grind evilly It's gonna be great! **IRISH-HAILSY **thanks for pointing out the problem with anon. reviewing, it should be fixed now. White hair IS cool, no one would've heard of Death Note, I DON'T stalk a town, and you lack imagination. Sighs why do I put up with you? **MRS.JONESPEPPERMINTPROVIDER **I agree 100 with you, Alex should be better than them in at least somethings, what's the point of MI6 hiring him after all? I HATE it when some fanfic does that Grrs I'm going to try and make them talented in some areas and terrible in others, such as you seen with Adam whose a total weakling. And I'm going to try and put that scene in somewhere...somehow :P Thanks for reminding me about it!I like your fanfiction name as well, I would steal it if I could :P** RID3RLVR** Thanks, I like the format as well, I wasn't too sure how to put them all in though :P I think I done okay with it though. And I suppose this chapter answers your other question as well. Mysteries are good. I like mysteries nods

**GOLD IS POWER, xxIANRIDERxx, DRAKA NYOKI, ALEXSANDRYAGREGONOVITCH, **THANK-YOU!! Thank-you for your support!! You shall all get chocolate chip cookies!!

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	4. School starts

I don't own Alex Rider D: I DO own Adam and Damien :) Life is sweet again

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Chapter Four: School Bells

Alex groaned as his alarm clock went off, fumbling around with it before giving up and throwing it away. The sound of it crunching against the wall filled him with an odd morbid satisfaction. He did _not _want to go to school right then. In his opinion, Mondays should be banned altogether; it's not like anyone like them or anything.

He turned over, preparing to drift back to the land of the dead, but sadly forgotten he lived with Eagle now.

Said person decided to give them a nice wake-up call.

A loud, screechy sound filled the flat, followed quickly by cries of protest from the other bedrooms.

'WAKEY WAKEY!' Eagle screeched as he ran down the small hallway, being chased by a half-asleep Fox who was armed with a pillow and a very murderous look.

Alex groaned as he stumbled out of bed to the sound of Eagle yelling,' OW! Fox! It was just a joke, c'mon, cut me some slack! OUCH!'

Alex laughed quietly as he heard revenge being dished out. The best part of the spy job.

He shoved his shoes on before going to see what happened to Eagle, as his yelps had cut off after Alex had done up the buttons on his shirt.

As Alex walked out-he looked both ways cautiously, he did not want to attacked by a pillow-wielding SAS man- Fox walked out of the living room, grumbling to himself something abut ungodly hours and eagle stuffing, Snake leaning against the wall in the hallway, sighing to himself while warming his hands on a mug of coffee. Curious, Alex paced into the living room, almost scared of what he would see. Almost being the key word there.

Alex couldn't help it. He had to laugh. Even Blunt would laugh at the sight. He doubled up, clutching his sides, wishing desperately he could get a photo of this.

Eagle was sitting in the center of the room, giving Alex the puppy-dog look to untie him.

His wrists and ankles were tied up in what looked liked two ties, a pillow case stuffed into his mouth and a horn-thing that people get for football matches lying a couple of inches away, just out of reach.

'You should know better than to wake Fox,' Snake sighed, coming in with his coffee and placing it on the ground, he pulled out the gag from Eagle's mouth so he could hear what new things he had to say now.

'Stupid Fox,' he growled, but lacking any menace, 'just can't take a joke.'

'You of all people should remember not to wake him up this early,' Snake reminded him again, undoing the knots on his wrists. Alex, still chuckling at the sight, said, 'You did deserve it, though.'

Eagle merely growled.

Leaving Snake to untie Eagle so he could wreck havoc for another day, he went off to the kitchen get some breakfast, but hesitated in the entrance before coming in. Wolf was in there with no one else.

The tension went up several notches.

'Morning,' Alex mumbled in greeting, pulling out the cereal and milk.

'Morning,' Wolf replied, drinking coffee and leaning against the counter and looking unsurprisingly tense.

And that was all that passed between the former enemies.

Thankfully.

* * *

Alex stumbled into the classroom (which he found on his third try, the school was just too complicated to understand) as the five-to bell rang.

Gossiping teens flowed in after him, every now and then one would glance at him before launching into another rampage of rumors and God knows what else. Making him reasonably tense. The last time a school started rumors and stuff about him was when he had to go off and save the world, the rumors were about being a gang member and so on. He got fed up after around the hundredth person came up and asked him if they were real, and decided to make up crazy rumors about himself and see how many would believe it. Just before he left he had a bet that at least ten people who believe the latest one, he was a teenage spy for MI6.

He lost the bet, by the way.

Sighing, and damning the entire teenage female population who just wouldn't stop glancing at him, he went to a vacant spot beside a dark haired boy who was leaning over his text book, as though it actually had something worth reading.

Which was unlikely, they were having English.

Alex dumped his bag down before collapsing in his seat.

That morning, Snake had been driving, since he needed the car to get home from work, and had gotten lost, which was followed by a blown-out argument over which way to go and how Snake must've gotten dropped on his head at birth, as he had absolutely no sense of direction.

Somehow, and to this day Alex is still trying to figure out how, Eagle had managed to bring up the topic of best football team. In the end Alex hopped out of the car and walked to school, having seen the map of the town before coming and knew that it was the first left and then two blocks down, straight ahead.

It took them around five minutes to realise that Alex had dumped them, if his mobile vibrating gave any indication.

He hadn't paid any sign to it, and anyways, he had to turn it off during class. School rules and all.

Sighing again as he took his books out, he didn't notice the boy next to him looking at him before he said,

'Hey, you're the new kid, aren't you?'

Alex jerked up, his book in hand, looking round before realising who had spoken, cheeks burning slightly, he replied, 'yeah, I'm Alex Hanning, you?'

'I'm Damien Wolf.' (Alex grinned inwardly at the surname)

Before they could engaged further in their conversation, the teacher came in and started yapping on about the four languages, PAIN (A/N My English teacher always goes on about them, I dunno if you've heard of it, but it stands for Persuasion, Argument, Information, Narration) , and how they should know all the pointers on them by now.

Taking this time to take a side-ways glance at Damien, he took in his jet black hair and vibrant blue eyes. His lean, slightly muscular body, just like Alex's body. His face which had a slight feministic look about it, and the pale scar running from the tear-drop of his eye down to the edge of his face. The tale-tale sign if Alex ever needed to spot him in a crowd. His uniform was clean and neat, almost looking brand new, which made Alex wonder about the boy. No self-respecting boy would look like he came straight from the dry cleaners unless just felt like being beat up by the local bullies.

Five minutes into class, Alex successfully tuning it all out, he carried on thinking about the boy beside him.

After all, Damien was one of the suspects.

* * *

It was lunch time, and all the teens except for firsties were milling across the road to the shops, milling outside the ones they claimed as theirs.

Alex lagged slightly behind the crowd, wondering where to go and hoping Adam or Damien would turn up. He hated being the new kid.

Noticing a large group of boys he recognised from his year, he hurried over, and, not for the first time, cursing his shyness around people his own age. You would think that after saving the world's arse several times it wouldn't bother him, but _nooo, _he was as nervous as ever.

Pulling himself out of his little self-pity moment, he noticed that they were all crowded round something, their backs to everyone. Some of them jeering.

Realising it could only mean one thing; he hurried over to see who was fighting.

He shoved his way near front so he could see, ignoring the yelps of protest as they were jostled out of his way.

He saw a rather small, frail boy with brown hair doubled up, blood staining the front of his jumper and a larger, blond-haired boy towering over him.

The larger one went to grab his throat, but the smaller one leapt out of the way, seemingly recovered from whatever the last blow was. Growling, the larger one lunged at him again, but he twisted out of reach, facing Alex for a second.

Alex gasped, he knew that boy. It was Adam.

Seeing no other option, he barged through the last barrier of people and lashed out at the larger guy. His fist connected with his skull with a satisfied _thump_ing sound. Knocked unconscious instantly, the boy dropped like a sack of meat, which, in fact, was what he looked liked anyways. Going over to the slightly hunched form of Adam, he asked, 'you okay?'

Adam laughed slightly, 'could be better.'

Alex chuckled slightly, ignoring the lads around them who were breaking up, he passed Adam a wad of tissue, who took it gratefully and pressed it to his nose, stopping even more blood getting on his jumper.

Another person barged their way through the stemming crowd. It was Damien.

Taking one look at the condition Adam was in, he sighed before saying, 'You attract trouble just like a light to a moth, you know that?'

Adam chuckled, 'you've told me enough times for it to be drilled into me, but it still doesn't do anything good.'

Damien grinned slightly before looking at Alex, 'were you the one to break it up?'

'Yeah,' he replied, looking over at the still form of the attacker that was being hauled away by his friends.

'Thanks,' Damien said meaningfully, 'Adam can't fight his way out of a paper bag; most guys like to beat him up. Especially them. They, like, _own _this area.'

Alex looked at him curiously, 'you mean they're a gang?'

Damien nodded his head, 'they control this area, anything you do here that upsets them can set them off big time.'

'What did Adam do?'

This time Adam replied, the blood stemming,

'I didn't do anything! I think my brother done something to piss them off, though. They can't get him 'cause he's one of the strongest in the school, so they decided to pick on the next in line.'

Damien scowled, 'it doesn't help you called them every name under the sun though, does it.'

'They asked for it,' he mumbled in reply, before swiftly changing the subject,

'Who wants chips? It's all on me, or really my brother I suppose,' he laughed, producing a fifty from his pocket.

'You really want to get yourself killed, you know that?' Damien sighed, 'or did he "ask for it" as well?'

'Hey! He tried to lock me in my bedroom for the weekend, he so did ask for it!'

Alex chuckled; he could really see himself hanging out with these guys.

Pity he had to find out whether one of their hobbies was killing people or not.

* * *

THANK-YOU to all of my reviewers!! Sorry this one took slightly longer than the others, Irish-Hailsy was complaining about it :( I had writers block, annoying thing, I think it's gone though, so no worrys!

**JUSMINE **lol, yeah I like childish!Eagle as well :P I can just imaging Wolf telling stories to Eagle, but I can't make that part of the story 'cause Wolf might try and track me down and kill me :P Not a very safe idea. I can't wait to write about SCORPIA but it's hard to find the right moment for it. I hope I'll get it in though.

**MAD MOGG** Lets hope that Wolf and Alex will push aside there differences and get along :snorts at wishful thinking: as if THAT is ever going to happen :P I think Wolf might tell Alex a horror story for night if I put it in. I can just imagine Alex's face :laughs:

**IRISH-HAILSY **your comment is too long and you hate my work. I've answered it already anyways. And white hair IS cool, just admit it.

**SILENTKILLER1 **I would've too, or slapped him round the head. Meh, either way.

And to **GOLD IS POWER;**

** ALEKSANDRYAGREGONOVITCH; **

**ZOEYUA; **

**ALEX-RIDER-GIRL;**

** SHADOW12300; **

**LIGHT OF THE STAR PHOENIX: **

THANK-YOU THANK-YOU THANK-YOU!! For all of your support! I hope this update was quick enough.

Please carry on reviewing! You make my day!


	5. Hanging out with the assassins

Disclaimer; I don't own Alex Rider, how sad :( But I DO own Adam, Damien, Thomas and the two random guys :) Life is good again.

* * *

Chapter 5: Hanging out with the assassins

The school bell rang at last, the teens running out as if the world would end if they didn't get out fast enough. The teachers straggled down to the teachers' lounge, as thankful as the kids they taught that the day was finished. How they all hated Mondays with the kids with hangovers.

Alex, on the other hand, walked slowly, not sure where he'll be meeting Adam. They forgot to mention a place.

He stood outside along with the rest of the stragglers who were still waiting for their buses to come. He looked around, trying to spot Adam among the sea of faces and bags.

Instantly spotting Damien and his scar (Alex knew that would come handy to remember) he went over, hoping he might know where Adam was. As he waded through the crowd he noticed Damien wasn't alone, and how Alex didn't spot him in the first place, he didn't know. First of; the new boy had extremely white hair, secondly; he had a group of hyper fan-girls hovering behind him, thirdly; he wasn't wearing a school uniform. Alex recognised him from the white hair alone. He was Thomas Dissard, and suspect no. three.

This was getting interesting.

Using this chance to examine Thomas, he blended back into the crowd.

Thomas was wearing a worn out jumper, a light grey, and a pair of faded blue jeans with rips along the bottom. His trainers were also falling apart and were, or used to be, white and blue. Under his arm was a black laptop.

All he needed was a set of wings and a halo and he would be complete.

Having nothing else to do-he couldn't hear there conversation over everyone else-he decided to go up. He was happy that he didn't get nervous when he walked up to them, he could now say that he had achieved _something _on this mission, at least. Now all he needed to do is find proof that Thomas was an assassin. Easy.

'Hey,' Alex greeted Damien, glancing at the other guy, 'do you know where Adam is? I was meant to meet up with him, but I can't find him.'

A spark lit up in Thomas' grey eyes, 'you're Alex, aren't you? I'm Thomas Culs.'

Alex gave him an odd look, 'how do you know my name?' And why don't you tell me your real surname? Do you suspect me already? Alex thought.

'Damien was telling how you saved Adam's arse. Thanks, by the way, I can't fight well myself, but Adam gets it hard at school 'cause of that gang.'

'I can't stand it when the little guy is picked on, I couldn't anything _but _save him.'

Thomas smiled largely, 'you might have to compete against Damien for the role of his bodyguard now.'

Damien hit him across the head, Thomas muttered a small '_ow' _as it made contact, but his smile never left his face_._

'He should be here soon, Alex,' Damien informed, ignoring Thomas, 'we were going to go into town all together. I don't think he told you.'

Thomas snorted, 'it was only decided two minutes ago we were coming!'

'Your point?' Damien asked, 'we still didn't tell Alex.'

Thankfully, Adam appeared out of nowhere before they decided to fight again. Alex got the feeling they didn't get along.

'Sorry 'bout that,' Adam apologised, 'I forgot my Science book again and I need it for homework due in tomorrow.'

'Where we going first?' Thomas asked, 'I'm getting sick of those girls over there,' jerking his head to indicate the girls Alex had spotted earlier.

'I was thinking we could go to the Cafe Paradiso,' Adam said, 'Alex hasn't been there yet, and we usually meet up there.'

Thomas nodded, 'as long as we can lose the girls,' a look of irritation on his face as one of them screamed his name and a bout loud giggling followed.

'Aw, Thomas, I though you would like all the attention,' teased Damien before ducking his head away from Thomas' head, 'what I say?' He asked with wide-eyed innocence.

'And this is why I don't go to school,' Thomas groaned, walking after Adam, who had decided he wanted to get there before night fall.

Alex chuckled before jogging after them, hearing Damien's cry of _'wait up!'_

* * *

The three sat round a table near the window, Thomas drinking coffee while the others hade coke.

They were telling Alex all the do's and don't's of the town, telling him about the gang Adam was having trouble with and how their territory covered the area between the secondary school to the primary. Which included the cinema and park sadly enough.

They had yet to mention the assassins, but Alex wasn't foolish enough to ask. He wished to live till tomorrow.

They talked about fairly mundane things for around twenty minutes, Thomas and Damien breaking out into another fight about the best football team-Alex briefly thought about that morning-, before Thomas remarking that he wouldn't 'argue like a commoner' in a posh voice. Making Damien go red and the other two roaring with laughter.

It was Thomas who brought up the reported murders that they were suspects for.

'Alex, you haven't heard of the rumours, have you? About the assassins and all?'

Alex, playing his part of ignorance and hoping he'll find something out, masked his face with puzzlement before asking, 'Assassins? Why would I hear something like that?'

Thomas nodded his head, 'I thought it was rather strange that you were hanging out with us. There's rumours behind a whole load of murders here. Some kids are saying it's us. Others are just laughing at it though.'

Alex snorted at that, 'No offence, but I can't really see Adam being an assassin. You and Damien? Maybe.'

Thomas smiled at that, as though at an inside joke, 'I'm glad you can see sense. You see cool enough, and you saved Adam.'

Alex felt the hairs on the back on his neck stand up, he saw that smiled, just like the ones on other mad men about to kill him. He didn't like that smile.

'So, about these "assassins",' Alex asked, trying to ignore what was previously said, 'do you know who they are?'

Damien laughed at that, 'I wish. No one knows who they are.'

Adam butted in, 'We _do _know what they call themselves though, most of the guys do. A couple of months back our school football team went into the changing rooms after a game, and on the wall someone had spray painted in red "D.E.A.T.H are watching you, Ben Tarl", Ben was the manager by the way. His body was found in his apartment a couple of days later with another spray-painted message "D.E.AT.H warned you, you failed." It was really creepy and most the team quitted, they were too freaked out.'

Alex couldn't think of anything to say to that apart from, 'What did he do?'

Thomas replied, 'We don't know. There are a lot of rumours but none are based on facts.'

'Anyways,' Damien butted in, 'that story still makes me freak; so could we talk about something else?'

'He was a member of the team,' informed Adam, 'he dropped out as well.'

'Are you sure you still want to hang out with us? I mean, with half the school thinking we kill people as a hobby and all, we would understand if you didn't.'

'Why would I care what a bunch of teenagers think? I suppose if I don't stay with you and suspected to having killing on my top-ten-things-to-do-list, they'll think I'm a druggie or something anyways.'

Adam smiled, 'great! I have someone who I can talk to who doesn't break out into a fight every five minutes!

Alex laughed while the other two pulled faces at him.

He checked his watch, and realised he had to go.

K-unit had decided to give him a time he had to back at. If he wasn't on time they would call MI6 down to find him. Alex knew they were serious about it. Quickly saying his farewells, he ran home, looking forward to announcing his success on the first day. This mission was easier than he thought.

* * *

_Ten o'clock, outside the shop "Nigh' time"_

It was night time, dark. The sky was covered with grey clouds, concealing most light. The lampposts down below was all that revealed what was happening.

The door to the little shop was opened, the manager stepping out.

If he had looked up, he would've seen a figure, watching him, standing tall.

But he didn't.

He locked the door to his shop, humming a tune to himself, his life ticking away.

If he looked up, he would've seen a glint of a gun being raised.

But he didn't.

As he walked down the street, to his little one bedroom house, the gun fired.

It was then he looked up, but it was too late.

You can't duck a speeding bullet, no matter how hard you try.

The figure on the roof sprinted away. Leaving no evidence of ever being there. The person was a trained professional; the person had shot a bulls-eye, not missing by even a millimetre. The person was one of the best in the business, not even SCORPIA could beat this assassin.

* * *

_K-Unit's apartment_

They were all sitting inthe living room eating dinner, Fox had cooked spaghetti Bolognese, as he realised they would need to have a somewhat balanced diet. Especially Alex who was still a growing boy. No one complained, all silently thankful Snake hadn't cooked it. He couldn't cook to save his life.

They were talking about their day, or really, Alex's and what he found out.

In the middle of discussing why Thomas never said his real surname (Eagle had said that maybe Thomas didn't know his real surname. Snake had whacked him across the head for that remark) the phone rang. Fox got up to answer it, everyone silent as he talked, before he came back into the living-room with a worried look.

'Fox?' Wolf asked, noticing how concerned Fox looked and realised instantly it couldn't be good.

'It was MI6. D.E.A.T.H shot someone ten minutes ago. He's still alive, but they don't know for how long.'

'OH FU-' Eagle started, before Snake covered his mouth and hissed loudly, 'there are young, innocent ears here!'

Alex ignored them though, was it Damien that shot him? He boy that seemed to not have a care in the world today? Why?

And more importantly;

Would he be the next one to go?

* * *

Thank-you for all of the reviews! Cookies to all! Can anyone guess what D.E.AT.H stands for?

**SLIENTKILLER1 **LOL, same here. I hate mornings TT;

**IRISH-HAILSY **Thanks for saying it's good, that's the most positive thing you've said about my fanfic! And I'll dedicate a proper fight with lamppost-hanging and all, if I can fit it in :P I've answered your review the other day anyways, so I'm not going to re-write it all again.

**RID3RLVR** Thanks, I hate it when people say they had writer's block, but all they've written is two lines. SO annoying :grrrs: I want to make them all friend, a more dramatic ending! :laughs evilly: I got the battle cry from my mornings. I'm woken up by someone yelling up the stairs, so I know how annoying it is :P

**GLISSONING RAVEN **Thanks! Eagle won't ever the hint to leave Fox in the morning :grins:

**JUSMINE **I HATE it when the internet stops, especially when I've just edited my story on fanfic, but when I save it the internet _has _to stop working. I based Fox on myself :D I hate mornings a lot. I wasn't too sure about the rumours part either, but I couldn't be bothered to to change it :P I admit it, I'm lazy.Yassen as my bodyguard, LOL, all the fangirls will be oh-so-jealous! :daydreams:

**ALEX-RIDER-GIRL **Thanks! I really liked that scene too:P

**LIGHT OF THE PHOENIX STAR **LOL, thanks! I'm really glad you like it! I'm trying to add humor to the story so it'll be less dark.

**SHINI **I'm really glad you like it! Is your name from "Shinigami" by any chance? Just curious :P

**LESKY **Thanks for giving me another name to call you, your full name is really hard to type out all of the time! I love you loved it!

**xxIANRIDERxx **Thankies! Glad you liked it!

**GOLD IS POWER **Thanks!

**HAWKEYE DOWNUNDER **Thanks!


	6. Fox comforts, Hannah appears

I forgot to mention, but this carries shortly after Snakehead, meaning it will be Christmas in a week or two in the story.

This chapter, especially the brotherly!Fox scene is dedicated to **Irish-hailsy **who helped me write the ending with Hannah. The chapter in general is dedicated to **Jusime, NorthernDreams **and **DarkShadowBlade **for working out what D.E.A.T.H. stood for. Irish-hailsy is shocked by your smartness.

* * *

It was five past nine on Wednesday morning, and everyone was settling into their first class, a sluggish atmosphere coating them all. It was a startling difference from yesterday, where everyone couldn't seem to focus on anything but one thing. The attempted assassination on Marcus Brawly, manager of "Eight 'till late". Even the teachers couldn't even attempt to even try to teach. After all, he was the previous Business Teacher. Nearly everyone in the school knew him, as he only quit three years ago, deciding to open up a small business instead.

When Alex came in on Tuesday morning, he knew straight away that he would be walking on eggshells all day. Wolf warning him as left for school (he had decided to walk since the last when they got lost, somehow) that Damien and Adam will most likely be watching him kinda ruined the whole "natural spy instinct" image. He knew, or really, Wolf informed, that Damien and Adam would be watching his every move, looking to see if he would slip up with any information that wasn't announced to the general public. Just as well he wasn't told anything to slip up _with_;Snake had said it would be safer if he didn't know any inside information.

Alex couldn't decide what was worse, them watching his every move, or them doing it so subtly that at least twice during the day he wasn't sure whether he wasn't just being overly paranoid.

As you can guess, Alex nearly cried with joy when the day was finally over. He just hoped that the next day the average teenage attention span will kick in, and everyone will get bored of Marcus.

Thankfully, it did kick in. But fate always did have it in for him, so it was only a matter of time the fragile peace would break.

Wednesday went peacefully enough, Alex relaxing a bit when none of them talked about Marcus Brawly, or making him feel paranoid. The same went with Thursday. Friday went smoothly as well, until that night.

Alex still blushes whenever he thinks of it.

Friday night, at three a.m., Alex had woken up with cold sweat on his face and his duvet twined around his body. Groaning, he stared up at the ceiling, trying to forget the nightmare he just had. He glanced at the clock, and, seeing the time, decided to go get something to drink. He never could get back to sleep straight away, not that he wanted to, anyways.

Alex walked down the small hallway, heading to the kitchen to get some water. He woke up from a nightmare. Again. He hated them, the ever remaining reminders of his previous missions. He got them about once a week, but he never woke up screaming like most people did. He was used to them. After all, he had them since the end of Stormbreaker and the jellyfish. And when he was younger he got them about sock monsters. Those things were _scary_¸ how could anyone in their right mind think kids would _like _them? Honestly.

Alex silently padded down the hall like a, well, like a cub really. A soft light that could only be emitted by a computer screen coming from the living room made him pause. Cautiously, he poked his head in, tensing himself to be faced with the barrel of a gun and Damien. He let a breath of relief when he realised it was only Fox looking back at him with a surprised look.

'Hey Cub, why are you up so early?' Fox asked looking the slumping form of Cub.

'Couldn't sleep.'

It was partially true; he never could get back to sleep after a nightmare.

Fox scrutinised him, as though realising there was more, before returning back to his laptop, typing randomly as the screen filled with pictures and news articles.

'Why are you up?' Alex asked, curious.

Fox sighed, 'I'm trying to get some more information on DEATH. It's easier now that we know what the actually call themselves. It seems only the locals and other assassins know it.'

'Oh right…' Alex trailed of, not knowing what to say to that.

'I'm going to get a drink before heading back, you want something?'

'Nah,' Fox replied not tearing his gaze from the screen as he answered.

Alex turned to go, but Fox stopped him calling out, 'Oh Cub? I heard that water mixed with lemon juice help with nightmares.'

Blushing a lovely shade of red, Alex mumbled a quick 'thanks' as he hurried away from the hunch form of Fox.

* * *

Saturday morning came, along with Eagle's new way of waking them all up. Ever since his fog horn had been banned by Snake, the undeclared "mother" of the house, Eagle seemed to have it as his duty to wake up everyone and then get attacked by Fox. This morning he played Nirvana on full blast. Fox smash his CD player before getting his morning coffee. It didn't help that Fox hated Nirvana.

The day went by as uneventful as the last, Alex silently thankful that Fox didn't tell anyone about last night. He knew full well that Eagle and Wolf wouldn't let him live it down. He wasn't too sure what Snake would do, since he was always so quiet. Except when it came to football, then Snake would start acting like Eagle along with Wolf. They both loved football, but they supported different teams. They argued a lot about who was the best. Snake always won.

On Sunday, Wolf and Fox went to get the Christmas tree, which surprised Alex to no end. He was going to celebrate Christmas with a houseful of SAS men? He _had _to film it or something. You Tube would have a field day.

Monday came too quickly, the whole town depressed about having work/school.

* * *

_Monday, 1400 hours, Outside the school:_

Alex wandered slowly down the street, thankful that he was allowed out of P.E because of his "Leg injury". Of course, the teacher didn't know he left the school premises.

He headed towards the bus stop to sit down, having nowhere else to go.

He stopped when he noticed someone was already there, dressed in the female school uniform, looking around his age. Somehow, this girl had managed to fit around ten vividly coloured bracelets on one arm, the other supporting a chunky looking watch. Most likely broken, if the cracked face was any indication.

Shrugging mentally, he sat down beside her, who didn't look up from her magazine, called "MOJO", whatever that was.

It was only when he kicked his bag under the seat did she look up, startled and wide-eyed.

'Where'd you come from?' She asked, ripping out her headphones, which Alex didn't notice until now.

Alex coughed, 'The _school' _He said slowly, indicting his uniform.

'Oh, yeah, okay,' She trailed off, blushing slightly.

Alex then noticed her purple eyeliner and bright red lipstick.

'I'm Hannah,' She introduced, looking slightly awkward, 'Hannah Brock.'

'I'm Alex Hanning,' he replied, looking straight ahead at the road.

'So..' Hannah said, kicking at the dirt, 'what did you bunk out of?'

'P.E.' Alex replied, 'Told her I had a "leg injury"'

Hannah laughed, 'You have Mrs. Burke, don't you? She falls for everything. I have her for Geography. I bunked Home Ec. She hates me, I hate her. It's a mutual understanding.'

Alex laughed at that, 'That's Ms.Surs, isn't it? I heard about her. Are you the one that managed to burn vegetables when you weren't meant to actually be cooking them?'

Hannah grinned proudly, 'Yeah! That's me! I got a week detentions for that though.' Her smile faltered at that, before returning to its slightly insane look.

Silence entered between them, and soon Hannah returned to her magazine.

Alex decided to start his English homework, which was to write an essay about being a spy.

Grinning to himself, he started his story with, _"Stormbreaker was a computer, one made for every school in the country. But MI6 realised that there was something more to these, and sent in their best spy. Anthony Rider…."_

* * *

Thanks to all of my reviewers!! Please review again!

**Irish-hailsy **I already answered your review, hope you enjoyed the brotherly!Fox scene. And no, Deadly Emos Ate Through Hell isn't what DEATH stands for.

**RID3RLVR **Nah, it wasn't Damien or Thomas, but I won't tell you yet ;). You'll have to keep reading to see who it was. And I suppose that was kinda stupid of Thomas, but he could have something planned. I won't spill though :D

**Jusmine **Well done! You were the first to guess correctly :P It bet Irish-hailsy guess as well. I'll blame the dialogue for that typo; my computer never put a red line under it. I'm glad you like my jokes! _Some _people don't get them coughsplutterIrish-hailsyspluttercough

**Jake Caldefore, **or Monica, in this case. Good guess, but wrong. If you let me, I might put it in my story later on, though. Tell Jake that I hope he'll get better soon. I read his fanfic, "Blood Bonding", but I forgot to review it. I'm terrible with stuff like that :P

**alex-rider-girl **I'm glad you liked it! If you want to know who done it, look at the suspects very mysterious I'm not gonna spill yet though!

**Gold is power **is this update soon enough for you? Slightly longer to post than my other ones, but ah well.

**SilentKiller1 **LOL, I suppose I would be freaked as well. Your name is telling me you're an assassin, suspicious glances ah well, each to their own, right? :P

**Glissoning Raven **I'm glad you're liking it! The assassin wasn't Damien, but that's all I'm saying! You'll have to guess, or wait a little while, what DEATH stands for :P

**NorthernDreams **You double posted, so your second comment got deleted :P I read it before it did though, and you got 'E' right :D I'm glad you found it obvious, I thought it was, until Irish-hailsy guessed. Then I thought no one would get it :P I'm glad you're liking it!

**DarkShadowBlade **You got it all right, but if you read over chapter two, you'll get 'E'.

**Light of the Star Phoenix **I'm glad you liked it :P I think this update is soon enough for you, since I only got your review yesterday :P


	7. Emma comes, another dies

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider and any related characters, I DO own DEATH though :D

* * *

It was Wednesday, lunch time, and he hadn't seen Hannah since bunking off on Monday. He didn't look for her or anything, but he thought he would've ran into her at school. She only looked a year older than him, after all.

Pushing that to the side, as he crossed the road to the shops with Thomas, he couldn't help but think about the disappearance of Damien, who hadn't been seen since Friday. Alex had asked Thomas about it, but all he said was that Damien wasn't feeling great, and then changed the topic to the match last night. Alex hadn't really watched it though; he was too busy focussing on the fight between Snake and Wolf, which resulted on a pillow fight. Saying it was odd watching two SAS men fighting with pillows was the understatement of the year. So that topic was quickly dropped as well.

Alex had told the rest about Damien, but he wasn't to be seen anywhere. The bugs MI6 had planted in his house hadn't caught him inside, and there were no traces of him with the CCTV cameras all throughout England.

Adam was acting as though it was normal of Damien to disappear randomly, along with the rest of the school. The teachers merely sighed in annoyance when they marked him absence, not even bothering to ask if anyone knew why he wasn't in. No one seemed to care, as though he wasn't anything to them.

Going into the small café that the only edible thing was chips, they both bought a portion before heading back out, talking animatedly about Ms. Surs and Hannah's latest fight (Hannah had taking up sword fighting with the knives, her cooking partner nearly fainted when Hannah swiped it at her).

That was when something caught his eye, a flash of someone running into the alleyway.

Excusing himself from Thomas-and thanking inwardly that _something _was happening at last-, saying he just remembered he forgot to do his maths homework, he ran after the figure, "spy instincts" in full mode.

Unlike the dead-end, nowhere to run alleys from horror films, this one had a door half-ajar at the end. A soft light, like the one a computer emits, was coming from inside.

Shoving aside all the little clips in his head of what could happen; he went through the door, cursing his overimaginative brain as he did so.

* * *

It was dark and small; with soft lights flickering form the screens of the various computer monitors and TVs. There were tables piled up with paper, magazines and thin books. But no one was in there, no one pointing guns at him. Letting out a breath of relief, he looked cautiously around, noticing a door on the wall to his left, partly hidden by a swivel chair. He crept over to it and, praying to every God he ever heard of to not let anyone notice him, he opened it and peered inside.

It was a huge room, with five computers and two TVs in a row, all turned off and against the right wall.

The room itself was filled with a maze of tables, holding stacks and stacks of documents, letters, notes, reports, magazines of every description, books so thick that no one in their right mind would read cover to cover, and weapons. Lots of weapons. Various guns, daggers, bombs, swords, and also helmets, bullet-proof vests, lock-guns and so on.

A noise from the far left corner brought Alex back to his senses and ducked behind the nearest table. Pulling out a listening device that he had-ahem- _borrowed_, from Wolf, he listened in to the conversation that Damien and someone else were having.

* * *

_Damien, Wednesday, lunchtime_

He looked around the room, making a note to do some spring cleaning as he looked at all of the paper and weapons. While it all looked professional and as though they had done a lot of paper work; if anyone was to go through them they would realise that at least half of it was games of hang-man and noughts and crosses. The books were mainly on phycology and how the mind works, Thomas' latest interest since hearing about Alex.

Spotting a figure, hunched up into a ball in a chair in the far left corner and hidden by shadows, he headed over gracefully, moving around the tables as though they weren't there.

The figure was nodding its head, muttering the words to "Uncle Jonny" by the "The Killers"; ignoring the fact that Damien was standing patiently in front of them.

It was only when the song ended with the last line did the figure look up and take out its headphones. "It" was a "she" with long, dyed black hair and haunted brown eyes, the ghosts of her past restless.

'You made it,' she greeted, resting her head on her knees, leaning on the armrest of her chair and staring intently at him.

'Obviously,' Damien drawled, pulling up a swivel chair before dumping himself into it.

'How did it go?' She asked; eyes focused on his as though trying to read his mind.

Damien sighed, 'Okay, I guess.'

Her eyes narrowed, 'What happened?'

He slumped backwards, looking up at the concrete ceiling, 'they nearly caught me, I had to shoot one of his bodyguards as I escaped. The bodyguard should still be alive, but I was never good at stuff like that.'

She growled softly, tearing her gaze from his, opting for the floor instead.

'What's wrong?' he asked, with a worried voice, but his face blank from emotion.

'I just wish the extra security wasn't needed. That we needn't do this. That the world was as ideal as an innocent child would see it.'

He chuckled, leaning forward so his face was close to hers, 'I wish that too, but this is needed. The world will never be perfect, but we _can _make it pretty close for the next generation.'

She sighed, 'Yeah, I know. It's just. . .well, you know the idea.'

'I do,' Damien replied, 'but there's nothing else for us to do. We must dance to the tune for now.'

The female was about to say something-about Damien and his terrible over used quotes-, before some books near the door crashed.

'Damn it!' Damien yelled, grabbing the nearest gun and ran to the door, not bothering to seem graceful and just leapt over the fallen books and papers. The female slinked into the shadows, watching as the intruder dodged out of the door, a thoughtful expression on her face. She didn't bother running after him, she knew the intruder would come back soon enough.

* * *

Alex listened carefully to their conversation, frowning slightly as he tried to figure out what they were talking about. He shuffled slightly as he tried to get into a better position, but didn't notice the stack of books beside him until too late. They tumbled down on top of him as a way to announce their appearance. Swearing colourfully-and in several different languages, his uncle would be so proud-, he swiftly ran out, hearing Damien behind him. Dodging out of the entrance, he breathed a sigh of relief as he ran down the alleyway. Damien wouldn't dare to run out into the public if he was "sick".

Just to be safe, Alex didn't stop running until he reached his next class. Breathing heavily, he sat in the back, noticing he was the first there.

Switching off the device, which had recorded everything, he thanked every God he prayed to earlier that he wasn't caught.

Deciding that there was nothing else to do, he took out his maths homework. He actually did forget to do it.

* * *

_1900 hours, K-Unit's Apartment_

They all sat in silence as Alex turned of the device, sitting on the floor along with the rest on cushions. They had the half-empty Chinese boxes all around them, Snake said something about how they'll end up obese if they continued at this rate, but was swiftly quietened when Eagle made a proposal that he, Snake, should cook then.

Wolf was the first to break the thoughtful peace;

'That's mine, isn't it?' He asked, looking at the oh-so-familiar device.

'I think we have more important issues to think about,' Alex started nervously before Wolf broke in, 'it is, isn't it? Why'd you go stealing my stuff?!'

'Run, little Cub, run!' Eagle yelled with delight, partly due to the fact Wolf's anger wasn't directed to him for once.

'Now, Wolf, if Cub didn't steal it we wouldn't have heard this conversation, would we?' Snake interjected, seeing the murderous look.

'And, technically, I didn't steal it, I was going to give it back, so I would've been _borrowing _it,' Alex threw in nervously. He had seen Wolf mad. It wasn't nice.

Growling slightly, Wolf leaned back against the sofa, dropping the subject.

They went back to the original conversation, but to no avail. All they could figure that by killing all these people, D.E.A.T.H. believed that they were somehow helping the world.

Far away, as they talked on, Thomas sat alone in an extremely small room, empty except for the bean bag he was sitting on and a pen and notebook. All light was gone, unless you counted the crack of the doorway betraying him counted. The walls had no windows, but were covered with posters of the rules. There was a naked light bulb above his head, switched off. Outside the room, sounds of children getting ready for bed was heard.

Sighing, Thomas curled up, lying on his side, and closed his eyes.

Sleep hardly gained him while locked in this room though.

* * *

I don't like this update much, I got writers' block : ( I'm going on holidays on Thursday :D So don't expect an update for a while.

I'm working on a new fanfic, I don't know when I'll post it, but it's going to be a Harry Potter Severitus story. I say more when it's certain :D

To all Reviewers, THANK-YOU!! You shall all get cookies!

**NorthernDreams **lol, I think this helps a bit with Emma's character :P And I kinda hinted who shot the dude :P Glad you liked it!

**irish-hailsy **Cub was up EARLY since it was morning, I've already replied to your review, and thanks for featuring my story in your blog :P

**SilentKiller1 **lawl, I don't think I could kill anyone ¬¬ Glad you like the whole Christmas thing! I wasn't too sure, it being Summer and all. :P

**Gold is Power **this update wasn't soon : ( and the next won't be either :P Hoped you liked it!

**Illusjon **lawl, glad you like my jokes! Thanks for the tip, shall take it into mind next time! I wanted to show that Alex was accepting Fox's help, in an odd way though, I have to admit :P It didn't work as well as I planned :P

**Jusime **Artemis! squeals I loved that character until Eoin made him go all good : ( irish-hailsy is very random shrugs I don't know why. . I think D.E.A.T.H. is now screwed with a physic Fox :D AH should read this story very humble

**Jake Caldefore **I'm glad you're getting better, how did you end up in hospital anyways? I don't think you mentioned it, but just ignore this if it's personal :P Glad you're liking it!

**Alex-rider-girl **Glad you're liking it! Hannah's one of my favourite characters to write :)

**DarkShadowBlade **Cool name, BTW. Glad you figured it out! Most people forgot about her, so I hope this chapter will help with that!

**xxIanRiderxx **Glad you're liking it! Planning something big for later as well : )

**HawkEye DownUnder **Thanks for reviewing now! I'm always forgetting to review :P So no sweat. Glad you like it!

**Flame of the Dark Phoenix **Glad you liked it! 


	8. Decisions and weddings

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider, K-Unit, or Camden D: I DO own DEATH though :D Thank you to **Jake Caldefore **and **irish-hailsy** for letting me use their guesses for DEATH.

Dedicated to **irish-hailsy**, for her birthday and because she edited this for me. **Jake Caldefore **for saying DEATH was as stated below. Even I didn't notice that :P

Irish-hailsy would also like me to inform that blue October are "the bomb dot com".

* * *

_Thursday, Aragon Tower, eleven a.m._

All five leaders of DEATH, one of the greatest assassination organisation ever heard of, were sitting around a small table on the fourteenth floor of Aragon Tower, beside the Thames. The room was small, a large window letting in sunlight, the carpet new looking from lack of walking on; the walls were a plain white and undecorated by anything.

The apartment was rented at £1,500 a month under the name "Dave Smith", a successful bank manager.

At least, that's what everyone thought.

Thomas sat opposite the door, the sun slowly roasting his back, and was drinking a bottle of coke. His latest addiction. The one before was coffee, which would keep him awake at all hours. He would also call at least one of them at four in the morning to see if they were up yet. Alas, coffee seemed to have no lasting effects on him any longer, so he'd moved to the next best thing.

Also, Emma threatened he will be her next victim if he phoned her once more at night.

Anyways, back to the meeting they were having.

In the centre of the table were documents of a certain Alex Rider, and the video of him sneaking into their warehouse of outdated things, rarely used except by Thomas, who used it once a week.

They were there to figure out what to do with him.

_Thursday, K-Unit's Apartment, 10:55_

Snake had decided that something had to be done about this mission if they wanted be home by this time next year, and had therefore dragged everyone into the living room. Eagle, literally, the others were generally figuratively.

'Did someone die?' Wolf asked, sitting down on the floor along with the rest.

Snake sighed, 'Does some one have to die every time we call a meeting?'

'Yes,' Wolf replied with his usual bluntness.

'No one died, Wolf.' Fox offered, leaning against the couch beside Alex.

'Then why are we here? I was busy,' Eagle whined, starting to get up again. Snake tugged him back down and replied with the air of someone who had to correct Eagle regularly.

'You were staring out the window in the kitchen.'

'I was staring out the window _thoughtfully_, Snake,' Eagle corrected, but didn't bother to get up again. No one bothered to fight with him about that, though Alex did snort.

'_Any_ways, we need to crack down on this; I want to back home for my little sister's wedding.' Snake informed.

'Oh? When's that?' Alex asked, hoping it wasn't anytime soon. It looked like they would be here for a while.

'Two years time,' Snake said with a blank face.

A tense quietness filled the room, no one wishing to say they weren't _that _bad at this. They all knew they were.

'I think you wanted something to talk about something other than your sister's wedding,' Wolf said, breaking the silence.

Snake sighed, 'we should try and figure out what their name means, first.'

The rest of K-Unit looked slightly horrified at the thought of actual _work_, but none of them dared to say anything to Snake.

* * *

'Deadly Emos Ate Through Hell,' Eagle offered after five minutes of nothingness. Alex, dragged out of his daydream-him killing Blunt,_ painfully, _perhaps with an explosive or two thrown in for good luck- snorted.

'I don't think it's that, Eagle.' Alex laughed.

'It could be, they just don't want you to know it's that,' Eagle compromised with the logic of a five year old. A five year old with very little logic.

'How old _are _you?' Wolf groaned, annoyed by his team mate's idea.

'Twenty-three, and older than you by miles!'

'By three months, Eagle,' Fox corrected, 'back to the subject?' He offered before yet another fight started. He didn't think the apartment could last it.

They've already broke the microwave and all of their alarm clocks.

'Deception, Envy, Anger, Tyranny, Hate!' Wolf half yelled, happy that he had finally figured something out.

They all thought about that, trying to think if that was it. At least, they were pretending to.

'Well, I'm glad we've figured that out now, I'm off to Adam's,' Alex said, standing up to leave. Fox pulled him back down again, thanks to the killing glare of Snake.

'I doubt it's that,' Snake replied, ignoring the now complaining Alex.

'Why not?' Wolf huffed, annoyed that someone would go against what he thought.

'Their name goes against them. I mean, I don't think they want everyone to know that they're envious of something.'

'They don't want people to know what it stands for, that's why we don't know,' Fox remarked, getting bored of this.

'Anyways, aren't you meant to be at school?' Fox asked, finally realizing the day.

'The heating went bust again,' Wolf said with a bored expression, 'I don't see why they bother bringing the kids back tomorrow, they'll be on Christmas holidays next week anyways.'

'DEATH stands for their names, doesn't it?' Alex said, it finally dawning on him, 'Damien, Adam, Thomas and two others. The leaders.'

Eagle gasped in mock horror, 'An MI6 spy with brains! Whatever shall we do?'

Wolf whacked him across the head, 'shut up for once, will you?' he pleaded. He never did get along with Eagle. Wolf liked everything serious and orderly, Eagle was the exact opposite.

'Wait, that means we still have to find two other people with names beginning with "E" and "H".' Fox groaned, 'can we just say it's what Wolf thought it was?'

'No,' Snake replied stubbornly, 'I think Alex is right on this, but we need to go through the list of suspects to find out the other two.'

'But there's like a hundred people on that list!' Alex groaned, fed up of work. Why can't this be like his other missions when the bad guys go after him?

Snake huffed at the lack of eagerness in his team, 'fine then, we won't do anything about this mission and just sit around until we get killed, okay?' he said sarcastically.

'Yay!' Alex yelled in a very un-Alex-y way and stood up at last, 'I'm off to Adams' place.'

Alex then sprinted to the door before Snake could change his mind.

'That was sarcasm!' Snake yelled after him, sighing when he heard the door slam in response. He turned on the rest off the team, who were all trying to sneak away.

'And where do you think _you're _going?' He asked, glaring.

Eagle sighed, 'you're so much like my mother, it scares me, Snake.'

Snake gave an exasperated sigh.

_Thursday, Aragon Tower, 11:10 a.m._

After everyone had watched a small clip of the tape and read all the information they had on the spy, Thomas had asked the all-important question;

'Now what?'

'Kill him,' Emma immediately replied, saying it as causally as stating the weather.

'We can't kill him,' Adam sighed, 'MI6 will be watching him closely. Killing him will only confirm their suspicions of us.'

'And it'll give them evidence to use against us in court,' Thomas added, drinking from his second bottle in ten minutes.

'Kidnap him; threaten to kill him if the people show signs of squealing about us.' Emma offered.

'It'll cost too much. We'll have to buy him rooms, then food for who knows how long, _then _we'll have to set up a link between us and them to prove that he isn't dead on a regular basis. And I kinda like him, so can we not kill, kidnap, torture, or whatever else you have planned, Emma?' Adam said, the financial guy of their group.

'We could always induct him into DEATH,' Thomas said slowly, the plan rapidly forming in his head.

'And _how _will that solve everything? In fact, that'll make everything worse!' Hannah exclaimed.

'We'll induct him, slowly introduce him to use. Show him we're human and not these animals he's usually sent to spy on. He'll eventually join our side. MI6 always blackmailed him to go onto missions, while we'll give him a choice of whether he'll do something or not. He's too used to adrenalin, he can't back out of this world completely, but he also doesn't enjoy the strong grip MI6 have on him.' Thomas finished, a smile slowly forming on his lips, 'and I don't really want to kill him or anything either. He saved Adam, his enemy, from a bunch of kids that could seriously hurt him. It's not often you'll find someone who'll do that.'

Adam nodded, 'the plan seems okay. No one gets hurt for once, a new member gained. I'm in.'

'Same here,' Hannah agreed, 'he's hot.'

Emma looked at her in a disturbed way.

'Yeah, okay,' Damien replied, glad that he won't have to kill Alex.

'Fine', Emma sighed, giving in, 'pity we can't kill anyone though,' she muttered under her breath.

Damien, the closest to her, shivered and replied, 'I can't understand how morbid you can get.'

Emma shrugged, 'you're a man, get over it.'

'Not likely,' Damien muttered, turning away from Emma, 'what now? We have the whole day to ourselves.'

'CAMDEN!' Squealed Hannah, jumping up and linking herself to the now standing Thomas.

All but Emma groaned as one; Emma just ignored her completely.

'I swear, if you buy me _one _piece of clothing, I'll murder you,' Thomas warned, not even bothering to try and wriggle out her vice-like grip.

She laughed, 'yeah, of _course _you will. I'm too damned delightful to kill.'

She looked Thomas up and down thoughtfully, 'I'm thinking long black trench coat…I can probably haggle the price down to £20 if you model it for the seller.'

'You can afford it anyways,' Thomas muttered.

'Yeah…ah well. I'll buy coke with the extra cash, just for you,' she grinned.

* * *

The end to another update, please review it! My birthday was this week :D **irish-hailsy **is celebrating hers next week, so say happy birthday to her as well! I had the least amount of reviews last week, was it that bad? D: Or are you all on holidays? :P

**Jusmine **I agree, Artemis is hot :P Have you read the new Artemis book? Twins!! I still need to read it :P **irish-hailsy **is hogging her copy. Meanie. The world is corrupt, yay!! And I just KNOW Ian would be proud nods head forcefully

**Gold is power **thanks for reviewing, do you like it? Hate it?

**hailsyyyyyy **a.k.a **irish-hailsy**, I've replied to your comment. Emma's deathnotey feel is awsome. Even you can't deny that. And I'll have to use that explosion. Maybe in a one-shot or something.

**SilentKiller1 **Run away from angry Wolf! Glad you enjoy it.

**Glissoning Raven **Yeah I know, but I couldn't be bothered to carry it on. Don't worry though, Wolf will get revenge! Evil laughter in background Glad you like it!

**Jake Caldefore **I never know how to spell words...thank God for Word! As you can see, DEATH was revealed here. Glad you're enjoying it!

**oirishgoddess **Gawd, you compliment my story so much! You get a cookie :P Glad you're liking it! Thanks for reviewing as well.

**Flame of the Dark Phoenix **if it isn't strange, I haven't wrote it :P Glad you like it!


	9. Christmas Presents and documents

Not much of an update, mainly to fill in the space, but it does mention things that'll be needed later.

-ADVERTISEMENT!- I (and co-writer **irish-hailsy**) have written a new story called "SOS, SAS Teachers", please check it out!

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider :( I DO own DEATH though :)

* * *

Alex ran across the hallway to Adam's place, hoping Snake wouldn't decide to chase after him, and banged on the door; Adam had already informed him that the doorbell didn't work because his brother had broken it, Alex didn't ask how.

After standing there like an idiot for a minute or two, the door opened to reveal a brown haired, muscly, sixteen year old teenager. Tobias.

'Is Adam home?' Alex asked, noting the glint in his eyes that said _'Leave before I kill you'_. Alex didn't like that glint, he had seen it too many times just before running for his life.

'You're that Alex dude, aren't you?' Tobias asked, observing him with a look of disinterest –and slight hatred- as he leaned on the side of the door, ignoring the question.

'_Yes,' _Alex said slowly, picking up thatTobias wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box –or shop-, 'Is Adam home?'

'No, he went out somewhere,' Tobias replied.

'Oh right,' Alex said, getting fidgety under his gaze. Anyone would, if a bloke twice the size of you was just staring, unmoving. 'I'll be going now,' Alex informed unnecessarily.

'Good for you,' Tobias replied, swinging the door shut in his face.

Alex sighed, now what?

Deciding that going back wouldn't be the smartest thing; with Snake being in warrior mode and all, he went off to get a drink from the vender machine downstairs.

* * *

_Thursday, 1630, Thorn Road, Orphanage_

On Thorn road was a large two storey building. It had a large door, worn out brick walls, a load of windows, and a small front garden. A sign was placed outside; originally reading _"St. Nicholas' orphanage for children and teenagers. All welcome. Please call 0800 938 666 for information on how to adopt."_

Sadly, someone had decided to spray paint in red over this lovely sign, so the new message now said _"Beware the Wicked Witch of the South. Come at your peril"._

There was a pretty drawing of skull and crossbones underneath as well, in case they didn't get their message through well enough.

St. Nicholas' orphanage housed ten children -aged between five and seventeen- and one head matron. Her name was Mildred Handon, or "witch of the south" as the children so fondly called her.

She had shoulder length, dirty blond hair, blue eyes that reflected her hardness, and a small, yet flabby, body. She would wear anything she could find, but always wore a suit if visitors were coming.

Right now, though, she was screaming at a certain Thomas.

'WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?' She bellowed the second she saw him sneaking through the kitchen. Thomas winced at being caught out, and slowly turned round to face her.

'Out,' he replied truthfully.

'OUT? OUT? YOU'RE MEANT TO BE "IN", HELPING ME LOOK AFTER THE KIDS!'

He shrugged, having nothing else to say, 'It was an emergency.' He explained.

'EMERGENCY? DID SOME ONE DIE? I DON'T THINK SO!'

'No. No one died,' he confirmed, 'my friend really needed me, though.'

She started to slowly count to ten, eyes closed, to control her anger yet again for him. Thomas, never the one to let opportunities slip past, legged to his room. Bolting the door shut after him, he smiled and turned his CD player full blast to drown her screaming out, that would surely come any second now.

The CD was Hellogoodbye, their first album, and certainly clashed with Mildred's rage and heavy pounding on his door.

* * *

_Thursday, 1700, Hemel Hempstead Market_

Alex had been wandering around the market for God knows how long, trying to find Christmas presents for K-Unit. He had never thought buying gifts could be so hard. Usually he just got whatever there was available and let the receiver suffer, but with K-Unit he felt obliged to get them something they'll like. After all, he was stuck living with them until DEATH was behind bars.

But now, after being to every stall and shop twice, he decided to give up and give a certain someone a little call. Speed-dialling "one" on his phone, it was picked up straight after the second ring.

'Alex, my boy!' The all too familiar voice greeted on the other side.

'Smithers? I've got a small favour to ask…'

* * *

_Thursday, 1601, K-Unit's apartment_

K-Unit were also having the same gift problem. When Alex had left, Eagle had wormed his way out of working on the mission by exclaiming he had to go get presents. Wolf then asked, slightly panicked, what they got for Alex. None of them had gotten anything yet.

'Go on eBay.' Eagle said, nodding, 'they sell everything!'

'Do they sell duck tape?' Wolf snapped, getting annoyed as he tried to think what a fourteen year old spy would want.

'I don't know, say so,' Eagle replied, not noticing that it was rhetoric.

'What about clothes? That's what I get my nephew,' Snake offered.

'I don't think he'll appreciate clothes, he spends most of his time chasing madmen.' Fox sighed, 'we could phone Smithers for some stuff?'

'Nah,' Eagle said, 'but I think I know someone better. .'

He trailed off, looking thoughtful for once, and then went of to his room.

'Anyone knows who he's on about?' Wolf asked a minute after he left, breaking the waiting silence.

'Not a clue,' Fox offered, before returning to his laptop, looking up stuff on the internet.

* * *

_Thursday, 1605, Adam's flat_

Adam arrived home after several tubes and buses, whishing nothing more than his bed. But sadly, he had to arrange their next meeting on Christmas Eve.

They were going to be using an unused flat, four fights above his, and would most likely need a good clean out.

Taking his phone out, he dialled the number of the first "employee" he could think of, quickly ordered him to clean the flat, and then hung up before any objections could be made.

Ignoring his brother's loud music that pounded through the small flat like a hammer, he passed out on his bed. Phone dumped on the floor and the several bags of shopping Hannah had forced him to carry shoved under his bed.

The last thoughts in his mind before he succumbed to darkness was that Hannah went _way _over the top about shopping, his feet felt like they went through a lecture on science, and then walked a thousand miles.

He then thought, on the bridge of sleep, that Christmas Eve shall be one to never forget. Ever.

* * *

Emma sat on her bed, documents laid before her and laptop by her side. She was determined to find out every little thing about Alex Rider, from his favourite colour to his last successful mission. So far she had found nearly everything out, but there was one document that they hadn't managed to get. One fully completed on his family history, with contents that even Alex himself didn't know. If they got this file, they could be a step up than MI6 at last, owning every tiny scrap on their most successful agent, one that MI6 will very reluctantly let go.

But alas, it seemed it would be awhile before they got it, their only spy in MI6 had been caught last week. They had yet to hear anything from him, so they all jumped to the worst scenario.

MI6 had killed him.

* * *

**Jusmine **lol, thanks! I usually steal books of my sister as well :P When Artemis had to strip you could just hear the fangirls squeal!! Good luck in re-reading it, you're probably going to find a whole of flaws in it TT Snake's sister is a maniac nods Happy Wedding thingy to your sister!

**irish-hailsy **Your stomach isn't tiny, you just eat a lot during the day :D I kept the ad of Blue October because it would be YOU who would be banned laughs evilly I've already replied to you anyways :P

**Gold is power **Glad you like it!

**Wolfmonster **thanks! If the story isn't weird, it isn't mine :D Emma is a morbid girl, she reminds me of **irish-hailsy** :P Glad you like it!

**oirishgoddess **lawl, you're right, their name is going to be weird if Alex joins, DEAATH doesn't have that ring to it :P Thanks for the Happy Birthday! Here's another cookie :P

**Arica, Princess of Rivendel... **It's extremely bad that they found out :P Poor Alex, ah well :D

**Jake Caldefore **INTERNETS!! Why go on holiday when all you need is online? You're random, I like you even more now :P Spelling is hard, I blame any talent I have in that area on Microsoft Word.

**Glissoning Raven **I love that topic as well :D You'll just going to wait and see mysterious tune plays in background

**SilentKiller1 **Gawd, Alex is going to get tired from all this running! DON'T STOP RUNNING ALEX! THE STORY'S NOT FINISHED!!

**MidnightsRose **Glad you like it!

**Black Dragin **Glad you're enjoying it!

PLEASE REVIEW!! EVERY TIME YOU DO, YOU SHALL GET A COOKIE!! -grins widely-


	10. Christmas Eve, joy

I'm suffering from laziness right now, so you'll have to bear with me and my slow updates T_T

I have several announcements, and I shall most likely forget one and tell you more stuff/crap in the next update, but for now I have VERY IMPORTANT NEWS! For all those people that know and love Death Note, and those that have no clue what a Death Note is, I have SHOCKING NEWS to tell you. Firstly, America is making their own live action version of the film, and the actor for Light Yagami may be the one-and-only ZAC EFRON DDDD:

I hope that rumour isn't true, because I may have to start hating my favourite manga and anime and film T__T

Also, earlier in this story I mentioned that I shall write a Severitus (Harry Potter fandom, for those that may not know) and I was wondering whether it should be a Muggle AU (the characters of Harry Potters are muggles, and always have been) or just a normal Wizarding AU (if so, it shall be after sixth year, when Harry and Co. are gathering horcruxes)

Also, I'm trying to squeeze the Christmas scene out, so if anyone has any ideas for presents, please tell me (I have some plaaned out, but not all of them). HELP K-UNIT GET THEIR CHRISTMAS!! Give them a gift ^__^

* * *

_Friday, 2000, K-Unit's Flat_

Everyone was in the living-room, sprawled out among take-away boxes –this time it was Chinese- and watching a football match between Manchester United and Liverpool. Snake and Fox were die-hard fans of Manchester. Eagle and Wolf were die-hard fans of Liverpool.

It was, to the least, entertaining for Alex, who was thankful it wasn't Chelsea (_his _favourite) playing tonight.

"COME ON MAN-U!!" Snake and Fox roared as the said team started to run up to the goals, aiming to score.

"COME ON GOALIE!! DON'T FAIL US NOW!" Eagle screeched, looking panicked. The score so far was 3-2 to Liverpool. They couldn't lose _now_, not to _Liverpool._

Man U aimed, they stroke they...

"YEEES!!" Eagle and Wolf screeched.

Failed.

"OH GOD, WHY MUST YOU BE SO CRUEL??" Snake wailed, head in hands.

Alex wasn't too sure what Fox was doing, though he was clasping his hands together as though in prayer.

The match continued, along with the SAS men, oh-so professional as they were, roaring obscenities.

A phone started to play the James Bond theme.

"Alex? That yours?" Fox asked, not turning away from the TV.

"Yeah," he replied, standing up, "I'll be back in minute."

"Sure," Fox replied slowly as a Man U was tackling an Arsenal for the ball.

Clicking the door shut behind him, drowning out most of the noise, he answered his phone with a simple,

"Hello?"

"Alex?" A rather familiar voice asked.

"Adam?" Alex asked, slightly unsure.

"Uhuh. Listen, I need you to come meet me on Christmas Eve, in the apartment 106, your tower I believe."  
"What for?"

"I can't say, but you must come. It's really, really important."

Was it just Alex, or did he sound like he was begging?

"I suppose I could come.." Alex agreed slowly, unsure whether this was good or not.

He hoped it was the former.

"Great!" Adam replied, sounding relieved about something, "At two? Yeah? See you!"

Adam hanged up on him.

"Oh _joy_." Alex muttered to himself softly.

This was going to be one hell of a Christmas.

***

_1403, Flat 106, Hempstead Town_

It was snowing.

The sky was speckled in white, as though an artist had picked up their paintbrush and flicked it onto the canvas that was the sky. Or that a young, spoilt child had waved their toothbrush around in frustration, spraying toothpaste everywhere. Either one, really, depending on how romantic your imagination was.

The roads were a stark contrast of brown slush of muddy snow, cars whizzing past in a frenzied race to get last minute presents for tomorrow.

For Christmas.

Adam was sitting in the recently cleaned flat, though, watching all of this with a bored expression as he waited for Alex Rider.

He was late.

He turned his back to the window, gazing at the small, extremely dark, room. It was furnished with two chairs and a broken light bulb that hung from a naked wire. There were three doors, one on each wall facing him. Each corner disappeared from sight, hidden in the shadows. They had bought this flat during a rather messy hostage situation last year, and they hadn't used it ever since. Except for Thomas, though, who stored some mountains of books in the room across from Adam. But even Thomas rarely came up here.

The heating, lighting, and electricity didn't work. DEATH couldn't bother paying the rather pointless bills, and therefore was cut off. The walls were soundproof (for holding a hostage in a paper-thin walled room wasn't a very good idea, as Hannah once found out), and so no heat nor sound could get in, making it deathly silent and freezing.

Adam glanced down at his watch. '14:05', it read in the dim light.

Sighing, Adam entertained himself by watching his puffs of air whirl around into nonexistence, like cigarette smoke.

Someone knocked on the door.

He smiled, teeth shining white in the moonlight. Time to get this ball rolling.

***

_1400, The Block of Flats That K-Unit Live In, Hempstead_

Alex cursed when he saw the out-of-order sign on the door to the elevator. Wolf had held him up with a lecture on not to get himself kill, and not to get captured.

If Alex knew any better, he would say Wolf was almost motherly. He nearly laughed during Wolf's speech when a picture of him as a woman entered his head thanks to this.

Sighing, Alex started to jog up the stairs, praying that whatever Adam wanted, it wouldn't take hours. He was meeting Smithers for the presents for K-Unit.

***

Alex paused in front of the door to room 106, breathing in slightly and double-checking that he had his bullet-proof jacket on (it looked just like any other jacket, and even frayed around the edges for some reason. The bullet-proof part only covered his chest and back, though) and that he had his mobile.

He opened the door.

***

Adam watched as Alex entered, still smiling in the dark.

"Hello?" Alex called out into the darkness warily, his breath floating about like ghosts. Adam watched a bit more as Alex stayed close to the door, waiting for someone to appear or for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Adam decided to give him some brownie points for that.

"Adam, hey." Alex greeted, at last seeing the teenager in front of the darkened window.

He didn't move away from the opened door though.

"Hey, thanks for coming! You're late though," Adam decided to put his acting to good use, and frowned slightly at Alex, as any teen would do.

"Ah, yeah, my uncles wouldn't let me go for ages. We had relatives over, you see."

Alex moved away from the door, letting it swing shut.

Adam grinned, showing of his teeth off again. Alex was starting to think Adam had just gotten braces off or something, and wanted him –Alex- to compliment him.

But his thoughts of whether Adam had braces or not was cut short, as a slight shuffle came from the corner opposite to the spy, and he decided to stare at it suspiciously. Alex didn't know why glaring at a corner would help, but it was instinctual.

"You okay, Alex? You seem rather jumpy." Adam frowned again, this time in mock concern. And this time Alex noticed the act.

Swearing in a language incoherently, he let his instincts take over his body fully (this time it wasn't –fortunately- to stand staring at a wall), and dived at the door behind him.

Sadly, though, he was stop by a rather large body landing on top of his, making him tumble to the floor.

"Bumsen!" Alex swore in German. He rolled around, swinging the body that was firmly attached to him onto the floor. He tried to wiggle out of the grip, but the person was very good at holding people.

He went limp, feeling the warm breath on his neck that smelt like smothering and...peppermint? The arms around him loosened slightly, and Alex took full advantage of that fact, swinging his arm awkwardly, hitting the person right in the face. Jumping up, and stumbling slightly (but we'll ignore that), he wrenched open the door and ran into the corridor that was blindingly well lit compared to the room he just left.

But, as he started to run down the corridor, his freedom was short-lived as something extremely sharp decided to say hello to his shoulder.

He decided to swear in French this time, staggering slightly, but still continued as the good little spy he was.

He reached for his mobile, trying his best to ignore the dagger producing out of his shoulder and the pouring blood that came with it, and fumbled slightly to get it out if his pocket while running.

He was also trying his best to tell himself that the footsteps that were growing ever louder behind him were just a figment of his imagination.

Grinning, despite of his current situation, he managed to get his phone out of his pocket, and he was also nearing the corner in the corridor.

The person (who _was _just part of his imagination) also just managed to catch up to him, and decided to let him know of this fact by jumping on him again.

"You like my back a lot, don't you?" Alex said dryly as his face made contact with the floor again, his shoulder flaring with pain.

"And you like the floor a lot, don't you?" A female voice that sounded like she smoked a bit, and killed a bit, announced.

"Hah, that's _your _fault." Alex replied, determined to have the last word.

He was cut off, though, when the pain in his shoulder flared as the girl pulled the dagger back out, "thank-you." She said.

"_Emma," _Adam's voice said behind him in a tone of despair, "you're not meant to hurt him. You're meant to _make friends _with him."

Alex was quite sure Emma was raising an eyebrow.

"Don't raise an eyebrow at me! And get off Alex's back, will you?"

Emma got up silently, leaving Alex to scramble back to his feet, holding onto his shoulder while glaring at them warily.

"Alex, sorry about that, mind coming back into the room? Don't want the neighbours to see." Adam smiled, his eyes sparkling with chips of icy blue in the light.

Alex laughed, "oh yes, don't worry about the little slip of a dagger into my shoulder, or having a girl thrown at my back twice. Oh no, I'm sure it was all just a large misunderstanding." He started to take a couple of steps back, but Adam drew out a metallic black pistol from the waistband of his jeans, and flicked the safety off.

Still smiling, Adam tried to comfort Alex in a morbid way, "please, Alex. We started off at the wrong foot. Let us explain ourselves, just come back into the room."

Alex raised an eyebrow, contemplating his choices. It seemed either running and getting shot in the back or going back into a room and most possible a long, torturous death. Oh joy.

Sighing, Alex followed Emma, who was still holding the dagger in hand, dripping wet with his blood.

***

The door swung shut as all three entered the room, the window spilling moonlight on the floor, showing off the worn down carpet and sagging couches.

"Nice home." Alex commented dryly, earning a push into one of the said couches.

Adam grabbed the spy's arm, inspecting the wound with a 'tutting' sound, before ordering Emma to get the first aid kit.

"Sorry, 'bout her." Adam started, "she's a bit mad in the head, she's usually kept away from the inductees."

"Inductees?" Alex replied with a note of sarcasm. Adam decided to ignore that.

"We know you know."

"You know I know what?" Alex said, feigning innocence, hoping this will go on forever and make him forget what they were talking about in the first place.

"We know you're from MI6. We know you know we're the gang DEATH. But," he continued, holding Alex down in the chair, ignoring the spy's protests, "we're _not _going to kill you. So don't worry about that."

"And _why _would I believe that?" Alex raised an eyebrow, but stopped trying to stand up.

"We want you to join our gang. To see why we do the things we do, and maybe you won't hand us in at the end of all of this."

Alex laughed, cold and not in a very humoured way, "why don't you just kill me? It would be easier on you, for if you know already what I do, then you'll know that I'll have to give MI6 any information I find. It's my job."

"We know that. But also know about K-Unit. A waste of time to kill you all, MI6 will just send in more people. So, are you in, or are you out?"

Alex paused, letting this all sink in. They knew everything, yet he was still alive. They knew he would be obliged to tell MI6 anything he knew, but they still wanted him to join their gang. Something huge was off. Surely there was some hidden motion, something they'll gain from this other than less people on their back. But, for some reason, Alex was willing to give them a try, regardless that they nearly hacked his arm off.

"Curiosity killed the cat." Alex breathed, quoting something his uncle had once said.

"No, stupidity killed the cat, curiosity was framed," Emma corrected, holding a first aid kit. She passed it to Adam, who immediately started to tend to Alex's wound.

"So, is that a yes? You'll join?" Adam asked, dapping TCP onto the wound.

"Yes," he hissed, wincing at the pain the alcohol brought.

"Good!" Adam replied happily, smiling again while rolling the bandages out.

"You smile too much." Alex pointed out, watching the bandage being wrapped round and round his arm.

"I know, too much coke." He stopped with the bandages, inspecting his work, "sorry again about Emma, she's a good as hell with killing but awful with the whole social thing. And you may want to get the bandages redone when you get back, I'm not very good with medical stuff. Hannah's usually the one who does this sort of thing."

"Hannah.." Alex trailed off, "don't I know her?"

"yeah. She saw you at the bus stop. She says hi, by the way, and that you have awesome hair."

"Ermm, thanks?"

Emma sighed, "Hannah's mad."

Adam raised an eyebrow at her, with a look saying 'and you're not?'

* * *

Thank-you to all that reviewed!! You all get Christmas cookies!!!

**talking-and-walking-thesaurous **Glad you like it! Thanks.

**fanofeverything **heheh, thanks. I'm slow with updating *blushes*

**darkxangelx-ox **thanks! I'll try and get the next one up sooner!

**XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX **He ran, but got hit with a knife instead. Poor Alex, just can't get away on time.

**Glissoning Raven **LOL, thanks!! I'm trying to write the Christmas scene as fast as possible T__T All help welcomed!!

**MidnightsRose **Thanks! Here's a christmas cookie :D

**irish-hailsy **I've replied to you, and a fat lot of help you were this time. No cookie for you!!!

**Jake Caldefore** Why yes, you do have a low self-esteem, and you did complicate things in that sentence thingy ^__^

**oirishgoddess **Obesity is good! Keeps you warm, all that fat ^__^ And I have Eagle's present..hehehehe. And thank-you!! You always make my crappy writing sound so good, you get extra icing on cookie!!

**ponygirl-loves-mcqueen **Thank-you!! I shall try to update faster next time though :P

**Arica, Princess of Rivendell **Don't worry, they're not going to kill Alex...yet ¬¬ K-Unit shall help Alex later on though!! Or try, really.

**Gold is power **I just can't update soon :( I'm too lazy

**Jusmine **I hate typos T_T They never bloody go!! Gah, I'll fix it later..when I can be bothered :P Hehe, I did a bit of squealing when he stripped, blame my imagination :P I'm hoping Chrismas will be all panic for K-Unit, still planning it though T_T

**Black Dragin **Thanks! And I can't wait to see what they get either :P I've got some cool presents in mind though :D Well' I think they're cool :P


	11. Christmas Day, even more joy

Dedicated to my dear friend, **Asolo, **and also **Wolfmonster, **who came up with EPIC ideas for presents. Thank-you both!!!

And Merry Christmas to all of you!! I'll see you after Christmas :DD

And yes, I know there's stuff here that I've either forgotten or written b adly T__T IF I feel up to it, I may fix it after Christmas. I've gotten a couple of chapters that need to be fixed T___T

* * *

"OH MY GOD!! ALEX WHAT DID YOU DO? I WARNED YOU TO NOT GET BLOODY HURT!! I _WARNED _YOU!" Was the lovely greeting Alex got from Wolf when he walked through the doorway, his shirt covered in his own blood. Wolf's screams attracted the other SAS men, who all but ran into the small corridor.

Wolf was an unhealthy shade of white, along with Fox, while Snake walked straight back out for the first aid box, which was in the kitchen. Eagle was grinning for some reason, and countered the tense atmosphere you usually find in hospitals with, "you always remember your first stab wound. I remember mine," he said wistfully, a dreamy sort of smile on his lips, "it was a hot summer in.." Fox interrupted it with a loud sigh of desperation, but didn't comment, instead hitting Eagle across the head.

Ignoring Eagle's loud protest of being handled in such a manner, Fox slung Alex's arm over his shoulder and helped the wounded spy to the living room, easing him down onto the couch. Wolf hovered awkwardly by them, shifting around and having no idea what to do. Eagle collapsed onto the chair opposite, trying to keep a straight face, but failing.

"Well, at least the chairs are being used now." He commented to Snake, who was rushing back with the tell-tell green box.

He didn't reply, choosing instead to order Alex to take off his top half of clothing instead. Alex winced as he shrugged the jacket of, hissing in pain. Fox helped Alex take his shirt off, easing it as gently as possible off his left arm, where the wound was.

Sanke sighed at the clumsy bandages, but didn't comment, instead snipping through them carefully, ignoring Alex's gasps.

Snake, with the help of Fox, cleaned the rather deep wound properly, creating a small mountain of bloody bandages and cloths at their feet. Alex looked the other way during all of it, keeping his gaze on the panicked Wolf, whe seemed to have formed some need to keep him alive and safe somehow.

"All done." Snake stated, leaning back in the chair, inspecting his handework, "now tell us, _how _you pissed them off enough to be stabbed instead of shot?"

"Like what Wolf did once.." Eagle chirped in, but was rudely inturrupted by Wolf loudly asking, " So, Cub, what did you do?"  
Alex smiled slightly, but didn't comment, and told them everything. About how DEATH were all mad, he was now part of them, and how Hannah thought he had cool hair.

When he finished, it was eleven o'clock, and Fox ordered him to bed after being given some tabvlets for the pain, saying he must be lightheaded from the loss of blood. Alex secretly thought it was so they could get drunk before Christmas came, in preperation.

But he went, and he slept, the darkness numbing his mind, whirring with the evening's strange, hurried events. He didn't know what to think about it all, and soon he didn't have to. A deep, dreamless sleep was a tempting thing to all men.

***

"WAKEY, WAKEY!!" Eagle screamed with happiness. It was six in the morning, and everyone was groaning in distaste of his timing.

Sounds from the apartments beside theirs' of children roaring at their own parents were heard, and Alex groaned as he threw the blankets over his head, trying to ignore it all and his shoulder of blossoming pain.

Sadly, Eagle had other plans, and threw the door open in a dramatic fashion, looking like a child who ate a bag of sugar and then found their parents drink cabinets.

"WAKE UP!! IT'S CHRISTMAS!!" He screamed excitedly, practically jumping up and down in joy. Fox stood behind the overgrown child, glaring at the back of his head.

"It is six in the morning. I swear to God that if you don't bloody shut up I'll turn all my threats in the past few months into _dire promises."_

Alex sniggered, imaging Eagle being stuffed, Fox's favourite threat.

Eagle, though, screamed "IT'S MORE FUN TO SCREAM!! FUN, FUN, FUN!!"

He then ran as fast as he could away from Fox, whose right eye was twitching slightly.

"Is he drunk?" Alex grinned.

"Sadly, yes. Never get Eagle drunk. Ever." Fox warned, before drawing his gun out from the waistband of his pyjama bottoms, "don't worry." Fox said absentmindedly to Alex's shocked face, "just tranquilizers. Won't hurt him...much."

Fox left Alex's bedroom, smiling to himself.

Wolf shortly appeared in the corridor, sighing to himself, "it's the same _every _year. Eagle gets drunk, Fox gets mad. Oh Dear Lord."

Alex decided he should probably get up then, since a murder was shortly going to happen. He wouldn't want to miss it, after all.

Alex followed Wolf, who was walking into the living room where Snake, Fox and Eagle already were. It seemed Snake was currently in possession of all weapons, and Fox was trying to use a pillow to smother Eagle, who was in helpless tears of laughter.

"Stop it, Fox. Kill him on New Years at least," Wolf said in a bored tone, grabbing a plastic bauble of the tree and throwing it at Fox's head.

Fox grunted, but stopped anyways, hitting the drunken Eagle across the head before sitting on the floor by Alex.

"Alright, Cub, open Eagle's first. Wouldn't shut up last night about it." Wolf grunted, tossing a box wrapped in green to him.

Alex caught it, raising an eyebrow. Eagle's eyes lit up with a strange glow, looking happy.

Alex tore the wrapping off, revealing a blue box with a blue lid.

"wow. Thanks Eagle. A box, what I always wanted." Alex said sarcastically.

"Nuu, in the box! In the box!" Eagle sang, leaning onto the wall behind him with a pout and a grin on his face at the same time. It was a weird expression that only a drunk Eagle would mange.

So the spy opened the box, and inside, surrounded by styrofoam, was, well;

"Eagle?" Fox asked slowly, "where did you get the gun?"

Eagle laughed happily, "I know the guy who works with all the weapons in the SAS, awesome huh? He got the gun for me when he heard 'bout Alex."

Wolf raised an eyebrow, "and is it loaded?"

"Of course! Would frighten anyone, a kid with a loaded gun!"

Alex grinned, lifting the gun up. He knew it was an M-9 Beretta 9mm Pistol from training with Scorpia. It was an old type of gun, but they always done their job.

And anyways, now he had a gun.

"Does MI6 know about this?" Alex asked.

"Dunno." Eagle shrugged, then giggled drunkenly.

Snake sighed, "I knew leaving you to get the presents wasn't a good idea."

Eagle didn't answer, too caught up in giggling.

"Here, Wolf." Alex said, throwing him a present, "open it!"  
It was a GSM bug, a small black box (the size of a packet of cigarettes), and could be left in any room anywhere on the planet, and Wolf could phone it up and listen into whatever conversation. The one Alex kept stealing from him could only record an hour of conversation, and you had to hold it to get the best reception.

Fox gave Alex a Swiss army knife, which had the basic cutlery and knifes, and also bug detectors, bomb detectors and a small GPS, which was basic though could help him get from A to B.

Snake then gave him a pair of gloves laced with some type of metal and so when he clenched his hands into fists, the metal will compress and give a better punch than he could ever manage without them.

Alex got Fox a "Bionic Ear". It looked like a Bluetooth handsfree kit, but instead of being connected to a phone, it picks up any conversations within a ten mile radius, and was solar powered.

Ale gave Snake a ring with earplugs which, when activated by twisting the ring clockwise twice, would let out a high pitched sound, disabling everyone within a fifteen mile radius. The earplugs would block the sound out, otherwise it would all be pointless and you'll be disabled as well from action.

Wolf gave Alex his own listening device, telling him now he can't use his. Alex laughed.

Alex gave his to Eagle last, when he was a bit more sober. It was stuffed eagle.

"Alex!" He whined, "I thought you liked me!"  
Alex chuckled, "it has a GSM bug in it, and also a small smoke bomb if things get sticky!"

Eagle brightened up at that,

"Wolf, you wanna have my eagle for tonight?"

Wolf frowned, "no, I don't want to have a smoke bomb in my bedroom.

"Awww, you're no fun," He pouted.  
***

It was one in the afternoon, and everyone was in the living room talking. The turkey was in the oven, and all was good. Eagle was as sober as he could be, and Alex's shoulder was blissfully numb.

Then a loud knocking from the door came.

"Fox, will you get it?" Snake groaned, lolling his head back on his shoulders, not wishing to move. No one had bothered to dress, meaning everyone was still only wearing pyjama bottoms, except for Alex. He wore a baggy t-shirt.

Groaning, he stood up and stumbled to the door, opening it up to nothing but a brown parcel with Alex's name on it.

"It's for you, Alex." He said loudly, tossing it into his lap before collapsing back beside the spy.

Frowning slightly, he opened it.

It was a bomb.

"GAH, CUB!! WHO'S YOU PISS OFF THIS TIME?" Fox roared, stumbling away from the traitorous package, trying to drag Alex with him. Alex laughed.

It was a small grenade, and still had its key wedged in.

"It's ok! It's just a joke, I hope." Alex reassured (though muttering the last part), holding the small bomb up while still dangling from Fox's hands.

The man sighed, collapsing back beside him, warily staring at the parcel.

Wolf looked like he just had a minor heart attack along with Snake. Eagle looked interested as to who sent it.

Rummaging around, Alex found a small note that read:

"_Dear Alex,_

_On the behalf of the gang, D.E.A.T.H.A (pronounce last A as a silent), we would like to invite you to our New Years Bash at the "Old Tavern". Adam shall pick you up._

_I hope you liked the present,_

_Emma."_

"Huh," Alex stated, "I'm invited to DEATH's "New Years Bash" at the Old Tavern."

Eagle grinned, "your first party at a bar, huh? I SHALL COME AND PROTECT YOU!"

Eagle jumped up, taking on the pose of a gallant prince. It was ruined by the smell of smoke.

"Is that smoke?" Eagle sniffed, turning his head to the direction of the kitchen.

"THE TURKEY!!" Snake cried, rushing to the rescue.

Everyone shortly followed, and watched with amusement as Snake pulled out a black, what-may-have-been, turkey.

"I'll phone the Chinese take-away." Wolf decided. Snake looked near tears. It had taken him ages to buy it.

***

It was three o'clock now, and they had had a festive dinner of spring rolls, prawn crackers and curry.

Alex was sitting near the tree beside Eagle this time, and was watching him warily as he drank from a bottle of whiskey.

No one could bother to take it off him.

"YOU SCUMBAG, YOU MAGGOT," he started singing unexpectedly, "YOU CHEAP LOUSY FAGGOT. HAPPY CHRISTMAS YOU ARSE, I HOPE IT'S OUR LAST!!"

Fox and Snake soon joined looking, slightly tipsy as well, and the three continued, "THE BOYS OF THE NYPD CHOIR WERE SINGING 'GALWAY BAY'",

Alex decided to join in, only knowing the main parts of it, and so they sang out of tune, "AND THE BELLS WERE RINGING OUT FOR CHRISTMAS DAY! I COULD'VE BEEN SOMEONE. SO COULD ANYONE, YOU TOOK MY DREAMS FROM ME, WHEN I FIRST FOUND YOU. I KEPT THEM WITH ME BABE."

Wolf, grudgingly, finally joined after Fox constantly poked him, and so K-Unit finished of the song, "I PUT THEM WITH MY OWN, CAN'T MAKE IT ALL ALONE. I'VE BUILT MY DREAMS AROUND YOU. AND SO THE BELLS WERE RINGING OUT FOR CHRISTMAS DAY!!"

Laughing- Wolf smiling despite himself- they finished it off, and Eagle fell back right onto the tree. It swayed, and fell right onto Alex.

"Ouch," he murmured, but was drowned out by laughter.

* * *

THANK-YOU TO ALL REVIEWERS!! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!

**XxXmaximuM-RideRXxX **They can't run off on Christmas!! DD: Boxing Day ^_^

**irish-hailsy **I've replied to you, but yes. Our shopping trip WAS awesome. The guy who looked liked Alex and then the one who looked like Yassen, but the one who looked like Snape was SO hott :P

**Wolfmonster **You ideas were epicly epic, and that's epic. And if I was Alex then, I think I would've joined. That, and I couldn't bother writting a ten page scene, I'm lazy T__T

**Ambrele **I sooo happy you like my females! I'm still a bit wary about them turning into Mary-Sues :P AS for the use of Hannah, you'll have to ask irish-hailsy, as the character is based on her. That, and she wants an email from people on fanfiction. She's a lonely user ^.^ And I like the whole trip wire thing, must try that out :/ Looks like fun ^.^

**xXEmoXx **lol, I bet they would like that. I think Eagle liked his eagle, though ^__^

**KlutzyQT **Thank-you!

**Joy Jolly **Aww, thank-you!! You make me feel warm with arrogance ^___^ And bravo in figuring what DEATH stood for!! Would've dedicated this to you as well, but I'm trying to not dedicate so many chapters to so many people :P

**oirishgoddess **Yeah, I have to agree with that it happened way too fast. Part of the reason is the whole "must figure out these guys and stop whatever plan" thing, another part is that he's intriged by DEATH, and another part is that I couldn't be bothered :P I really wanted to post the christmas scene before christmas, which I just managed to do :P Thank-you for the review :DD

**Lacie Lawley **Thank-you!!! Merry Christmas to you too!!

**Jusmine **Death Note=best film/manga/ TV series EVER. Zac Efron shall be playing Light, who is the best EVER character. This=scandal DDD: You should google it ^__^ As for typos..yeah, you're best to just ignore them. They never go T__T I don't think my laziness will ever go, though the break may help me slightly :DD

**Violet444 **Thankies!! ^_^ And yes, Alex has epic hair :P


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